Altar of Plagues – Tides

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Burning World Records
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One of the best current movements in black metal is that corner occupied by bands like Wolves in the Throne Room and Wodensthrone.

To take it back to the first wave of Norwegian black metal, bands like these take their cues primarily from Burzum rather than Mayhem, Immortal, Darkthrone, or Enslaved, and build atmosphere with droning riffs, entrancing vocals, and songs that regularly exceed the ten-minute mark. This brand of black metal succeeds only when the intended atmosphere emerges and dominates the listening experience. There’re no guitar pyrotechnics, there’re rarely vocal hooks, and the songwriting is fairly uniform. If the songs don’t invade the listener’s brain and drag them into the headspace that the writer experienced when they wrote them, then they fail.

Ireland’s Altar of Plagues don’t fail in the least with their new two-song, 36-minute EP Tides. The quartet lays simplistic drum beats beneath layer upon layer of massive riffs and shouted-from-across-an-ocean vocals that drip with despair and agony. Crescendos emerge from the chaos, but they’re understated and don’t march into the room and announce their presence like those of so many dime-a-dozen post-rock acts.

The songs are long – Atlantic Light is 15 minutes long, while The Weight of All clocks in at just shy of 20 – but they make excellent use of their time, constantly building tension and exposing the layers of atmosphere piled on by the band until they end and you lament that there wasn’t more.

35 minutes is more than ample for a stopgap EP, but Tides will definitely have you licking your chops for their next full-length.

“ layer upon layer of massive riffs ”

Tracklist: Atlantic Light / The Weight of All

Written by Brad Sanders
More: 2010, Albums, Black Metal, Altar of Plagues