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Belgium's Possession is back with another short release, the 4-song 1585-1646, following a demo, single, split and compilation. Nothing like getting all the various non-full-length formats out of the way early in a career.

Whether we ever get a full-length from this Black/Death band or not is unknown but they can't be accused of being unproductive. 1585-1646 opens with "Obscurity - Visitation" an unusually long track (clocking in at 9 minutes) that begins with some truly unsettling sound effects including rain and thunder, Gregorian chants and a mournful church bell before getting down to business around 2:45 seconds into the song. It's a bit of wait and the slow fade-in of the buzzing guitars, which takes another several minutes, makes it seem even longer. Atmosphere is again the goal of Possession as it was on the Anneliese single. Once we get into the music it's a chaotic swirl of echo-soaked shrieks and howls, lightning-fast drumming and fuzzy, tremolo-picked riffs. Melody is there but you've got to look for it, Possession doesn't make it easy to find. There are some slower, thrashy parts so 1585-1646 isn't a complete blur but the songs are generic.

There's nothing special happening on 1585-1646 but if Black/Death is your thing you could do a lot worse than Possession's latest offering.