Title: Hellian
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: January 18, 2018
Country: Greece/U.S.A.
This is a very interesting split for many reasons. US Missouri’s Jute Gyte is an Experimental black metal/Ambient/Noise project formed by Adam Kamlbach in 2002. Greece’s Spectral Lore is an Ambient/Black Metal project formed in 2005 by Ayloss. Both bands are one-man projects.
The split has running time of 41.28 minutes, and it consist of two songs in total - or one song by each artist, with length of 20 minutes (of innovations) per track.
Both artists have been inspired by poem “Hellian” which united them for releasing this split. The poem has been written in 1913 by Austrian expressionist poet Georg Takl, and it is the “most precious and painful” of his works. The cover art of the split album presents the “Tod und mann” painting by Egon Schiele, one of Gustav Klimt's pupils and among the most important artists of the Viennese Expressionism. Its colours complete perfectly the whole theme for nature’s turning into autumn landscape, as last step towards its end.
Despite being in the extreme genre exploring new territories, both projects differ stylistically.
The overall feeling while I was listening to Jute Gyte track was like I was in a dream. Distorted guitars playing strained psychotic melodies, directing straight into a trance mode. I was expecting any moment the shamanic chants to get in praying for the lost souls of the miserable men. Vocals are the typical for the black metal genre painful screams though. The track is more experimental and has been built in a way that slow and fast passages interchange, drawing mournful hopeless agonising dreamscapes for exactly 20 minutes.
Spectral Lore’s track is more atmospheric, not that experimental. It is slowly, very doomy most of the time, desolate and miserable. Listening to it, I could feel the burden of the unbearable existence of the soul in its painful form called life. The last part of the track provides some excellent blast turning into lonely distorted psychedelic howling guitar ending. The vocals chant, whisper, scream and add further touches to the 21 minutes trip into darkness and the overall visions for hopeless misery and desolation.
This split has to be listened by those who are seeking extreme bands which push the music into new territories and provide new dimensions to experience in the music. It is an experience indeed. It is also perfect soundtrack for to a snowy lonely aftrenoon at dusk, when the thoughts are seeking meaning and reason for the present existence when everything is so temporary.
Pain at heart. 8/10 By Count Vlad
Bands
Spectral Lore
Jute Gyle
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