Stream: Sisyphean shatter your Illusions Of Eternity
The most compelling Icelandic-style black metal album of the year is from…Lithuania? Imagine that.
Today we’re bringing you the upcoming album from Lithuanian black metal band Sisyphean. Now, I’d not heard of the band prior to checking out this album a couple of weeks back, and in that short time, Illusions Of Eternity has grown on me immensely. So much so, that when checking through all the month’s new music I’d been consuming, this album sat above the upcoming Aosoth and Blaze Of Perdition releases in frequency of playback. No small feat, as those albums are top quality. Now, ahead of its October 31st release date, you get to hear this excellent offering in full. The embed below starts on track 6 “Shattered Glass”, but I suggest starting from the beginning and hitting play on “Into The Circle” instead. Maybe it’s just the delusory effects of confirmation bias at play, but I hear nods to the nascent Icelandic black metal scene throughout this album. In particular, the elegant yet precariously poised atmospherics of Zhrine and the dismal narcotic-drenched dread of Svartidauði. If you can listen to “Nekrokatarsis” without feeling the grip of finality tighten ever so slightly around your throat, then congratulations, you’ve made it! You’re already dead.
Throughout Illusions Of Eternity, the guitars expel layer after layer of molten riffage, each searing moment quickly solidifying into the substrate for the next to build from. The tempo fluctuates under this accumulating pressure, heaving dense carbonic discharges into the soot-laden atmosphere at regular intervals, with expectedly deleterious effects. Speaking of volcanic activity, the vocals also bear some resemblance to those of another prominent band from the only place sulphurous enough to make the smell of rotting shark seem appealing, Iceland’s caustic kings Sinmara; with cauterising mid-range roars that seemingly command the musical turmoil they ride atop of. The kind of coercive sound that makes you reconsider continuing to push that proverbial stone uphill; after all, it’s not every day you get the chance to surf a pyroclastic crest down into oblivion, is it?
Am I just a sucker for anything with a sisyphean theme? Or does this indeed, rip? Hint: the answer is both. Discuss why in the comments.
Sisyphean’s Illusions Of Eternity releases tomorrow through Drakkar Records. Pick it up on vinyl, CD (digipack), cassette tape, or digitally through their Bandcamp page. Find Sisyphean on Facebook and show them your appreciation.
