metalhead gallery

Hey you forest-wandering dorks, here's some cool post-black metal for you brood sullenly over. We don't typically post a lot of this type of stuff here, but every once in a while I'll get a high-quality submission that catches me by surprise and goes up the very next day. I'm FAST.

Here's the skinny: Celephaïs are a one-man instrumental band from Germany (no, not the old-school BM Celephais from Croatia), hovering somewhere in the no man's land between post-rock and atmospheric black metal. If I were some sort of lazy fucking asshole I'd say something like "an instrumental jam band consisting of members of Enslaved, Agalloch and Oceanic-era Isis would be the most readily available comparison, as the cascading riffs and soaring melodies aim for the same epic heights," but again, that would be a downright despicable underselling of what Becoming the Deceased has to offer.

What becomes immediately clear is that these four lengthy tracks are immaculately rendered and produced, and have a lot more in common with bands like Explosions in the Sky than your average Darkthrone clone. In fact, if the album title and 'black metal' tag somehow led you to believe that this was going to sound like Deathcrush without the vocals, you are in for a hell of a surprise. No chainsaw guts-fucking for you, my friend.

You will, however, be treated to plenty of effects peddling, folksy melancholy, and winding instrumentation amidst the occasional "harsh" blasts of recognizable black metal, and by then it will be too late. You'll already like it enough to not be able to effectively make fun of it, and wind up posting it on your own bullshit music blog with nothing clever or snarky to say.




Tracklist:
1. Shroud of Mirrors
2. Solace
3. Becoming the Deceased
4. Our Hideout Among the Stars

Instrumental post black metal in your phaïs!