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Review: Elysian Blaze - Cold Walls and Apparitions
Elysian Blaze
www.myspace.com/officialelysianblaze
Cold Walls and Apparitions

Label: Northern Silence Productions
Year released: 2005
Duration: 54:19
Tracks: 6
Genre: Black Metal

Rating:
4.75/5


Review online: February 9, 2008
Reviewed by: Lars Christiansen
Readers' Rating
How do you rate this release?

Rated 4.17/5 (83.33%) (6 Votes)
Review

This is an album I've loved for a long time, so decided it was about time I shared it with you all (well, those who give a shit about Black Metal anyway). Elysian Blaze (made up by sole member Mutatis) formed in 2003, releasing a couple of demos before this, their debut release came out on Northern Silence Productions in 2005.

Extracting the very best parts of Xasthur and Nortt whilst mixing in the claustrophobic atmospheres of The Ruins of Beverast and Nagelfar, Elysian Blaze dredge the very depths of human emotions with nihilistic aplomb. The music has a varied pace, ranging from the predominant crushingly slow doom passages steeped in archaic evil and tomb-like resonance, to a lesser used but none-the-less equally effective fully charged Black Metal hiss that is guaranteed to wipe the smile off your face. The music's main weapon is of course atmosphere, and there's a hell of a lot to go around on "Cold Walls and Apparitions." Be it the slow, piano led introduction to "Sleeping With Corpses... Dreaming of the Dead..." instantly lowering the temperature in the room, or the ancient chant-like synthesizer usage alongside the blackened guitars in "Funeral Possession" removing the very existence of joy from your temperament, Mutatis creates a thoroughly convincing aura of desolation throughout the entire album.

I'm surprised this band hasn't had more of buzz about it, seeing as they'll shortly have a third album out, with the second one (Levitating the Carnal, released in 2006) being of a similar quality as this. I guess they're just one of those bands that'll forever stay hidden in the mire, shining like a long lost gem, only to be found by those who have the patience to dig around enough. Well, hopefully this review will do its job in shortening the search period. Get this, as it simply demands to be heard.

More about Elysian Blaze...
Review: Universal Absence (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
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