Published: November 22, 2017

Joining forces with Throats Productions, today we have Hypnotic Dirge Records unleashing another brilliant release filled with Atmospheric Black Metal goodness. “Origins” is a split release between USA’s Ah Ciliz and Italy’s one-man outfit Chiral. Featuring a total of five crushing tracks, we are left with great impressions from both of this promising bands.

Opening with Ah Ciliz, the band unleashes the raw power of “Cascadia”, a song very intense and expertly crafted to pack a mean punch. Lurking beneath the punishing riffs and excellent drum patterns, we have a lush melody that makes this track quite engaging. Moving into more atmospheric territories, the lush “Moonlight in Night Season” perfectly changes the pace and delivers a very melancholic and emotional side to the music.

The last Ah Ciliz song is the 7-minute epic “People of the Starts”, which takes a very melodic approach with superbly catchy riffs and an intense bass guitar line. Instantly changing the mood and pace, we get a more Post-Black Metal vibe from Chiral’s opening track “A Feeble Glare of Autumn”. This track is quite intense and very incisive, while perfectly adding atmospheric elements that take it to a whole other level (in a good way).

Closing the release, we have the 15-minute behemoth “Queen of the Setting Sun”, a very emotional piece that perfectly blends melody and aggression with some killer onslaughts of brutality and lush atmospheric passages. If you are into Atmospheric Black Metal that is not drowning in keyboards, this is certainly a release to check out. Both bands deliver punishing tracks that perfectly incorporate atmosphere and melody, in order to craft a more intricate and enjoyable release.