Ossuary Twilight - Official Website


Enshrouded By The Abyss: A Pact With Malevolent Shadows

Sweden Country of Origin: Sweden

Enshrouded By The Abyss: A Pact With Malevolent Shadows
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Buy on: Bandcamp
Type: Full-Length
Release Date: February 2nd, 2024
Label: Independent
Genre: Black
1. Eclipsed Souls In The Witching Hour's Embrace
2. Whispers Of Eldritch Sorcery, Veiled In Night's Cloak
3. Infernal Incantations Beneath The Veil Of Desolation
4. Serpentine Paths To The Darkest Chambers Of Despair
5. Cursed By The Void's Eternal Wrath, Atonement Denied
6. Enshrouded By The Abyss: A Pact With Malevolent Shadows


Review by Felix on January 22, 2025.

Ossuary Twilight greet from a lost place in the dense Swedish forest. No demos, just a debut with six songs and a duration of 32,5 minutes. Of course, they play black metal, but don't start to seek the typical Swedish elegance in their songs. The duo is working in a different field than bands like Necrophobic or Myronath. The most significant difference gets obvious quickly. The production of Enshrouded By The Abyss: A Pact With Malevolant Shadows is nearly painfully low-budget. The drums rattle relatively weakly, while the low-fi guitars possess a certain charm. Sometimes they surprise with alarming, nerve-shattering lines, for example in "Serpetine Paths To The Darkest Chamber of Despair", sometimes their lines push the band almost on punk territories (the beginning of "Cursed By The Voids Eternal Wrath, Atonement Denied"). All in all, one can get used to the mix and naturally one can understand it as a technical reflection of the rawness of black metal. But I admit that I wish they had put a close eye on a more professional sound.

Something different: After the first paragraph, I couldn't blame anyone who thinks Ossuary Twilight concentrate less on the music than on sprawling titles. But that's a fallacy. The two light-shy figures keep the material pretty interesting, sometimes as powerful as the production allows, sometimes atmospheric. Their guitar lines reveal a remarkable inner strength in their best moments and the musical content is definitely less minimalistic than the booklet or the mix. It is cool to experience some parts that combine a pretty vehement approach with a spooky undertone. Here we see the positive side of the sound, because it lends these sections an individual charm while creating a kind of natural horror scenario. The opener "Eclipsed Souls In The Witching Hour's Embrace" holds a lot of these parts (as well as an ambient interlude and almost tragic harmonies) and therefore it marks a worthy introduction to the sinister thoughts and sounds of Ossuary Twilight. In view of the instrumental strength of the band, it doesn't matter that the vocals of Throdion celebrate a monotonous, one-dimensional party.

Albums like this debut keep the old and probably eternal discussion alive: is this kind of black metal "trve" or just primitive? Is it a slap in the face of the high-gloss black metal (if such thing exists at all) and an expression of pure, authentic devotion or a technically half-baked product which should have benefited from a thorough overhaul? To be honest, I have sympathies for all positions in this debate. Black metal is more than Dark Funeral or Chaos Invocation (two great bands, by the way) and it is important that it does not forget its roots, its original taste and its spirit. Ossuary Twilight have put the focus on these elements and they have proven themselves worthy of this task. Of course, there is room for optimization. But the first step has been taken and the pretty straight, demonic and insidious title track brings the album to a blazing end.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

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