Wolvserpent — Aporia:Kala:Ananta
This new release, a single 40 minute track, is markedly split up within itself. For the first 7 minutes you are treated to haunting, doom laden and utterly compelling atmospheres. After this the music becomes more “metal” vocally, although the violins are still taking priority. By the time we get to 17 minutes we have what I would consider to be the first hint of “metal”. The drums are clean, the guitars one notch down from becoming feedback and this section of the track is quite improvised in feel, but the noise surrounding and weaving through it is exquisite. Dense, impenetrable and driven.
By the time we get to the 30 minute mark the violins are back and the atmosphere has just both lightened and become heavier at the same time. “hows that happened”, you ask? The violins come in a drawn out breath just as a wondrously deep drone emerges. At 38 minutes everything has dissolved and we are left with violins alone ending the album perfectly..
This album is a beautiful mix of strings, dark folk and dark ambient textures and guitar noise. The vocals aren’t too prominent, which adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere, and makes this album work very well indeed, they are backing up and mixing in rather than overriding everything.
There are notable gaps where this album could have been split into individual songs, However the fact it’s been mastered as one long track does ensure you take the journey Wolvseprent set you on as a whole rather than peacemeal. It’s a stunningly enjoyable dark path of a journey too.