Black Anvil
As Was
(Relapse Records)
On their fourth full length, New York City black metal crew, Black Anvil, continue to further push their sound into new and exciting directions. This experimentation started with their previous album, 2014’s Hail Death, which added elements of hardcore, hard rock and clean melodic vocals to their vicious blackened thrash attack.
It continues on this new album.
In fact, As Was features a more prominent role for the clean vocals. That might turn people off, but they really fit with the somber nature of the songs. They also aren’t afraid to use keyboards and synths, too. While some purists might scoff, these touches add an extra dimension to their sound. They’re willing to go anywhere with it, which alone is worthy of praise. The way they masterfully weave all these different elements into one cohesive sound is quite impressive. They’ve really come into their own.
“On Forgotten Ways” opens with a flourish and then becomes uptempo blackened thrash before revealing a chorus with clean vocals before going blast beaty and taking several twists and turns before it ends. “May Her Wrath Be Just” is the most orthodox song on the album. It’s the most straight forward song on the album.
The title track begins with a gently strummed acoustic guitar, fakes the listener by going heavy, but then goes quiet again, until it builds to some ripping blackened hard rock. At the end of the song, the clean vocals are layered almost on top of the raspy to provide an interesting dichotomy. “Nothing” begins as a high impact blackened thrash salvo, but then three quarters of the way through, the guitars drop out, and there is a proggy synth interlude, before the song finishes the way it started.
“Two Keys: Here’s The Lock” opens with a swath of twangy guitar that wouldn’t be out of place on a southern gothic record. From there, the song takes many twists and turns, layering on more of the clean vocals and doses of somber atmosphere to go along with the more savage parts. It showcases their sound in all it’s boundary pushing glory. “Ultra” ends the album in a unexpected way. It starts off heavy, but toward the end the guitars and other instruments fade away and we’re left with a choral part sung in Latin praising their dark master. It’s a little risky, but fits perfectly with the rest of the album.
You didn’t think they would end the album predictably, now did you?
As Was further refines Black Anvil’s boundary pushing take on this venerated genre. Their brand of urban black metal takes chances, and succeeds where other bands might have failed. It is definitely one of the most unique black metal records you are likely to hear all year. That alone makes it worth your time.
