Beats and yelling: Verzauber

Dire Garden of the AgesOut 29th May on Naturmacht Productions The second album from this Irish solo project could be framed as a transfer of styles from one zone to another. Whilst the debut behaved like an epic fable heavily rooted in Viking and Celtic metal stylings, the follow up offers a rather dramatic volte-face into industrial and electronic territory. But both expressions are characterised by a swirling, atmospheric panorama that creates a clear continuity within this project despite the sharp pivot in direction. Here we are presented with plodding, epic black metal in a futurist guise, mirroring Midnight Odyssey, Benthik Zone, or Lustre, albeit with a more assertive gait, emphasising the rhythmic physicality of industrial over any explicit ambient quality. The production bears this continuity out, offering a dense cacophony of sound that makes plain Verzauber’s maximalist approach. Drums, keyboards, and vocals all serve the dual function of pure musicality whilst constructing…