To even dip your toes into what modern black metal has to offer is to find yourself absolutely inundated by the sheer volume and staggering variety of styles that call the style home in the landscape we see today. Personally, I find that to be utterly fantastic! I love seeing all the different ways people can morph the style from everything to revering the classic veins to the most progressive of efforts that really show us how far the boundaries of the black metal can be taken to everything in between. The widespread reach of black metal is astonishing as well with bands from virtually every country on the map finding ways to contribute to the style, and South America doesn’t get nearly enough credit in that category. The sheer number of bands from the continent that have been doing metal immense justice from the shadows is overwhelming, and it’s with their latest that Outlaw proves to be one of the most formidable of such purveyors.
With most of its line-up hailing from Brazil since the inception of Outlaw eight years ago, this has been a name to respect out of the hordes of other South American names practically since day one. Their brand of melody-laced black metal has never once been anything to deny and is a real bastion of what it means to make Brazilian black metal some of the best of it can be with the reverence and passion that Outlaw puts into their craft nigh on intoxicating in virtually every form, and in no work of their’s has that been more evident than with their third opus, “Reaching Beyond Assiah”. Every new album brings the opportunity for the band to top everything that they’ve done before, and Outlaw truly took that to great lengths in the crafting of this effort. With not so much as a single blemish that I could find for the hours that I’ve lost in these seven tracks, what’s been thrown down here can’t and shouldn’t be considered as anything less than one of the most fascinating works that any of the scenes across South America have been able to put out for some time in this style. Melodic in virtually every given moment and scathing unto its very last defiant breath, it is amazingly easy to lose yourself in the swirling depths of all that “Reaching Beyond Assiah” has to offer.
Never once lacking in power and always filled with more than enough enchantment to keep you rooted in place for the very whole of the record and many spins afterward, Outlaw has truly crafted something exceptional the likes of which must be hailed for all that it is! There are thousands of excellent creation that have come from the many underground scenes of South America, but it has got to be with “Reaching Beyond Assiah” that must be seen as one of the greatest to come from those depths with its power nigh on irresistible.
LISTEN to “Reaching Beyond Assiah” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Outlaw on Facebook here.
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