{"id":77835,"date":"2018-03-14T13:00:35","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T18:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=77835"},"modified":"2018-03-14T12:37:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T17:37:17","slug":"review-stardust-by-soul-dissolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/review-stardust-by-soul-dissolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Stardust<\/i> by Soul Dissolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ben Serna-Grey shares his thoughts on the upcoming sophomore album from Belgian atmospheric black metal band Soul Dissolution<\/strong>. Fans of Agalloch<\/strong>, Katatonia<\/strong>, and Alcest\u00a0<\/strong>should get on this.<\/p>\n

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Stardust<\/em> is the second full-length album by the Belgian duo Soul Dissolution<\/strong>, coming out on Black Lion Records March 25th. Soul Dissolution is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist and composer, Jabawock, stage name of Boris Iolis, who has other work in the groups Ah Ciliz<\/strong>, L\u2019Hiver en Deuil<\/strong>, and Marche Fun\u00e8bre<\/strong> under his belt, and that past experience shows in this record. Credit should also be given to Acharan (L\u2019Hiver en Deuil, Sarin<\/strong>), who has taken up the mantle of lead vocals for the project since its beginning in 2012.<\/p>\n

Stardust<\/em> starts out with a short orchestral intro, “Vision,” to set the mood, which I\u2019m happy to say uses very high-quality sampling. While orchestral musicians are deservedly expensive to hire, few things turn me off more than when orchestral intros sound like they\u2019re being played on an \u201880’s Casio keyboard. Vision leads into “Circle of Torment”, the track that truly shows you what Stardust<\/em> is all about.<\/p>\n

The album has a very reverential and awe-struck mood, staying mostly in major modes and overwhelming you with a bright wall of sound. It\u2019s the musical equivalent of standing on a mountain after a hike, and you reach the top just in time to see the sun set and the stars begin to show themselves and coalesce into rivers of light looking down on the trees. It\u2019s gorgeous, strange as it feels to say that about a black metal record. One of the few drawbacks shows its face, though, as a few songs in it becomes clear Jabawock tended to stick to a similar tempo and riff style, with only a few things to break up the pattern here and there, such as the interlude \u201cMountain Path,\u201d which gives a nice break to take a breath of fresh air in the middle of the album.<\/p>\n