When it comes to what we normally expect from black metal, dreary environments and only the darkest of emotions come to mind given how harsh and unforgiving the style has always been in a great majority of its forms, but that’s not always the case as we know. It’s one of my favorites parts about black metal – the fact that it’s able to be twisted and pulled into all sorts of different directions with the results working out far more often than they feel like they should. Approaching the sound with the additions of symphonic elements and a great injection of post-metal, it’s with their latest EP that Vela Pulsar provides another glorious work of just how malleable black metal is as a whole.
One of the biggest things to keep in mind about this release is the simple fact that two-thirds of this band are not new to world of metal whatsoever. Both hail from the excellent band of A Flock Named Murder that is absolutely a name that needs to be more well-known for a plethora of reasons, but it’s today that the focus must be on Vela Pulsar for it is in every way its own entity that doesn’t deserve to be held in comparison to another band even if there are loose strings connecting the two, but it is undoubtedly here that we get a different creation all together. This is a record that makes for a much more hopeful tone than what most of black metal would rather touch, but we’re not dealing with typical black metal here as “Memoirs of Unbecoming” really morphs the sound to something that it can call its own with still be wildly cohesive, immersive, and entertaining. Everything about this record has a very hopeful undertone to it all that mixes gorgeously with everything that goes into it no matter which vein of metal is taking the center stage as it’s right out of the gate that Vela Pulsar make it clear that they know everything that they’re doing with “Memoirs of Unbecoming”. The positive auras that permeate every minute of this 30-minute offering is so oddly infectious with themes the likes of which we could all use more of after the hardships we’ve been through with many of us still going through, but it’s all somehow with a fluctuating core of black metal that Vela Pulsar manages to deliver to us a performance that’s not only intense in areas, but downright mesmerizing in every other aspect as we see all three of these tracks bring forth something that we simply do not get often enough, and it’s with the talent behind it all in every department that only makes what Vela Pulsar has accomplished here all the more delicious.
Black metal has not had any sort of shortage of albums that take the route of more positive themes with a much more colorful sound in the long run, but it really does take a special band to bring it to life well to any degree which speaks absolute volumes about the glory that we see on full display with what Vela Pulsar has done here. “Memoirs of Unbecoming” may just have three tracks to its name, but it’s in every single one of them without exception that Vela Pulsar shows us exactly what they’re made of, and if it’s any glimpse of what we’re to get from this band in the future, then I’m already in line to throw money at them to get it as soon as possible.
LISTEN to “Memoirs Of Unbecoming” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Vela Pulsar on Facebook here.
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