A new name in the dense black metal underground is far from anything to lose our minds over anywhere with it really feeling as though they’re as common as little insects feeding on an old, decaying trunk of a once-glorious oak in the forest. They’re absolutely thriving at every turn you make in a scene that is just as welcoming to flavors new and familiar with both being held to different standards, but a fresh name that manages to deliver is always a sight for the senses. Featuring members from A Mourning Star and Groza, Crucible of Sorrow is anything but new to the world of metal, and it’s under this new moniker that they’re poised to do great things in the world of black metal.
At a glance, it’s not hard to come to the assumption that this is black metal the likes of which is downright frozen in its nature and atmospheric in its tendencies, and anybody would be dead-on with such an assumption. Yet, it’s in damn near every way that Crucible of Sorrow manages to both surpass many names who find themselves barely able to scrape the bottom of the what the style is capable of and able to deliver a performance that is powerful as well as true to the very core ideals of what has always made the style something interesting from its beginnings. Already with “Sadistic Hymns of Sorrow”, it’s made clear to all those that enter this EP that Crucible of Sorrow is a name that is not to be underestimated nor taken lightly. Drenched in the personal experience that result in themes of immense depression in the face of extreme physical and mental pressure, this is a record that feels more than at home in the world of atmospheric black metal as you can feel the passion that those behind Crucible of Sorrow has for the style. From the magnificent yet simple use of acoustic guitar to the scathing riffs that adornmuch of the four tracks of “Sadistic Hymns of Sorrow”, it is damn near every box that’s needed for a true work of atmospheric black metal that’s being checked off throughout the EP as Crucible of Sorrow quickly establishes itself not just as another name in the ocean of others that only the lucky diggers can come across. Rather, this is a name whose power and potential is not to be underestimated for what they’ve crafted in this debut can more than easily act as the foundations for something much bigger.
Talent in a style as oversaturated as this can easily find itself wasted in less capable hands, but it is made incredibly clear with all that’s forward in this EP that Crucible of Sorrow is anything but incapable. Devilish down to the tiniest of details, the very essence of “Sadistic Hymns of Sorrow” is what many are always looking for out of their atmospheric black metal which these four tracks deal out in such fashion that can’t be seen as anything less than exemplary.
LISTEN to “Sadistic Hymns of Sorrow” on Bandcamp here.
FOLLOW Crucible of Sorrow on Instagram here.
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