Blood of The Black Owl - S/T [Bindrune Recordings - 2007]This is the first dark fruits of Chet Scott’s of Ruhr Hunter, Elemental Chrysalis and Glass throat records metal project. It’s a inventive and surprising mix of Black metal, doom, darkly tuneful traditional metal elements, ritual air, traces of forest cinematics and dark ambience. All with Scott’s very distinctive pagan and natural led themes. He has managed to take formulary chugging and crawling riffs inbreed with grim atmosphere of black metal/doom, Adding layers of ritual air, dark forest spirit, throat singing, clear guitar work, animal sounds and samples to make a moss filled, oak tree bowed black prayer to the forest and metal in all it's dark forms. Coming in just over 70 minutes running time- Scott fills the album with crawling crude riffs and barren chugs, growled and pained vocals that sound like the forest angry spirit, but it never becomes monotone like many black/ doom releases. Sure this is often bleak, painful and unforgiving, but Scott always add’s interesting layers. Take the first track Kills in timber, which launchs it self with a low down & dirt early Celtic frost chug, before stopping midway for a moment of grim ambience, before coming back more melodic and adding in wolf cries to the grim metallic march. Or Drinking the blood of a lion, which starts off with a bleak forest bound post rock air with some wonderful emotive guitar work, that leads into a rough 'n' ready Type O negative like doom chug. Scott using great bell like hits on the down swoop of each riff cycle, as he chants ominously and grimly over the top, before once more the clear melodic element appears over the riff chug once more. The album is topped off with the bleakest and grimiest track here A Coven of vultures, which marries slow painful and melancholy riffling with almost pained Burzum like shriek. Though it does finish with a haunting and eerier refrane that mixes throat singing, ritual drumming with strange Celestaphone strumming and plucking. Scott has made an album that’s a fond celebration of dark and chugging metal craft, but that’s also a work a great atmosphere, sound and darkly spiritual depth. That you’ll want to replay again and again. Roger Batty
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