Review by Jeger on July 26, 2024.

In an effort to continuously cast extreme metal in a most classy and striking luminance, Transcending Obscurity Records have taken it upon themselves to interject some much needed vision into what's become a rather predictable underground scene: stunning artwork by artists such as the renowned Mariusz Lewandowski and Adam Burke (Nightjar Ilustration) to don their artist's/band's records, fire merch, cutting edge recording sessions with visionary engineers resulting in superior product and a cross-genre roster including exciting and talented bands like Canadian post black-metallers, Hell Is Other People, who happen to be preparing an October 11, 2024 album release through the aforementioned TO - their sophomore effort, Moirae.

Post-black metal gets a pass in my book - admonished by the old heads, but man is this stuff beautiful: Harakiri For The Sky, The Spirit, Fen and of course Hell Is Other People whose blackened crimson runs deep, just not "Dark Medieval Times" deep… Into the age of modernity under the light of evolution have these bands ventured, all the while as they’ve kept their gazes firm upon black metal's core macrocosm; never straying too far from the ominous shadow of its legendary Black Mark… and surprisingly not ensconced in darkened shades of aqua… Only brutalist greys and ominous shades of bone to aestheticize black metal of a vastly expressive yet utterly despairing nature.

You can feel the melancholy as its wholesome energy pulls at your heartstrings during the opening moments of the titular cut: atmosphere somber with the gentle coo of dreamlike leads, dreadful distortion raking the mind; spreading its thoughts over spiked memories of yesteryear as you’re washed over in sorrow's ever-rising tide. An ocean of misery to cross over and into dreary forests of death we tread. An evenly tempered record where contemplation, regret and yearning all occupy the same space, and never from these bogs of consciousness will you ascend, so make yourself comfortable, because 'Degrade' promises little more than assurances of suffering to come and offers up even more of those despairing passages you’ve become so comfortable with. Like soft blankets draped over you by a loved one as you lay stricken with depression…

And lastly as dread intensifies into what feels like pure anxiety during the closing track, 'Atropos', a rising from out of the mire and into the realm of panic and bewilderment as all phases begin to liven just a bit! And then more depression… Ghastly gutturals to overlay some abstract guitar arrangements before an incursion of blast-beats unfolds; propelling you through the album's final epic moments until redemption's blissful melodies extinguish the experience, probably for good. An album to appreciate once, maybe twice, but to expect continuous returns to this heartache-inducing material would be asking a bit much. A fine compliment to today's Major Depressive Episode, though, and post-black or not, these young men obviously understand the truth about black metal and its capacity for encompassing human emotion like no other genre of music. Felt this one right in the old ticker…

Captivation: 7/10
Concept: 8/10
Cover Art: 8/10
Production: 8/10
Revisitability: 6/10

Rating: 7.5 out of 10