Chuck Schuldiner Project

Saturday, April 7, 2018

Coltsblood - Ascending Into Shimmering Darkness


This was one of my favorite doom metal records of 2017. The UK doom masters Coltsblood have always been a band apart. There is a weird magic to them and their potent riffing paired with stunning melodic content fascinates countless listeners. The ethereal might of Ascending Into Shimmering Darkness is truly potent and hints at a band who have the power to do so much more. This Chris Fielding produced effort is not only a masterwork, but incredibly deserving of its upcoming vinyl release on Black Bow Records. 

Ascending Into Shimmering Darkness is everything a good doom metal record should be. It has emotional breadth in a way that many of the bands peers lack, but it also has a sense of forward motion and potency through melody that serves to make it truly great. Toss in a handful of post and black metal elements, enough to make it diverse, but not so much as to be obnoxious and you start to get a sense for why Coltsblood is so rapidly rising in this weird underground community of ours. I'd like to take special note of the vocals which are a unique kind of brutal and terrifying. Perhaps the only comparable group would be their peers in Un. 

Coltsblood give you a taste of the true emotional devastation needed to record top level doom metal. This is the work of folks who have gazed into the darkness and have worked to come out of it on top. It's rare to find an album that so perfectly encapsulates the sheer misery of the human condition, especially not counterbalanced with such a potent sense of hope. It reminds us that no matter what, we will find a path and journey through the dark machinations of our time to craft sometime greater than before. 

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