Now this is an absolute monster. The industrial black metal of Lhaäd can't help but to fascinate. With their blazing guitars, harshly defined drum machine and crippling rhythms you get a sense that this is black metal as it was always meant to be. Gloriously blasphemous, lusting for blood and driving you to ever deeper depths of the soul. It's black metal done in a way that will terrify listeners and keep devotees committed to the underground. In other words - Below is an atavistic record, but one that fascinates because of it.
Lhaäd impress because of the vision behind the record. Lhaäd view their work on Below as an exploration of the depths of the ocean (Just listen to "Below V" for a taste of their oceanic vision) as they uncover the deepest of the deep. It makes sense when you listen though. There is an oppressive quality to the music and a suffocating heaviness that evokes the sense of being deeper than any human has gone or really should go. Below takes a different tack on back metal to so many of their peers, but it serves to differentiate them and lets listeners wind up fascinated with the tormented power they have come to present.
Below is a truly rich and fulfilling listen. It speaks to a band who have pushed themselves over the top and who consistently seem to find new ways to leave listeners in awe. There is an overarching vision behind their work that makes for some of the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing I've heard come from a deep underground (Or I guess in this case deep under the sea) black metal band in a long while. While they may take a bunch of tropes from their peers, the suboceanic approach is fairly unique and makes for a compelling offering.
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