ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Full Length Review: Black Blood of the Earth 'Bleak Light, Fervent Dark" (Art of the Night Productions) by Corban Skipwith

Band: Black Blood of the Earth
Location: Toruń
Country: Poland
Genre: Doom/death metal
Full Length: Bleak Light, Fervent Dark
Format: Digital album, jewel case CD with 12-page booklet
Label: Art of the Night Productions
Release date: November 12, 2021
The concept of ‘darkness’ is such an interesting one because you can get so many different definitions, answers and styles of what is the essence of darkness.
On today’s album review we look at the more ‘depressing’ and ‘mentally anguishing’ perspectives! I introduce you to
-Bleak Light, Fervent Dark by Black Blood of the Earth
So this is the debut album by the Polish Doom/Gothic Metal band featuring a 7 track lineup. Something I want to bring up that I find fascinating is in the bio description where the band reads
‘Black Blood of the Earth is a formation devoted to what is negative and painful. It is meant to be a wicked reflection in black depths of human nature, a miasma of loneliness and slow decay, a cold gaze towards the infinity’
I don’t know about you guys but that’s some pretty impactful words and the album in question does represent that narrative completely.
What I love about this album is that instead of going the more ‘obvious’ path shall we say with being extremely loud and abrasive they chose to utilize a more ‘subtle’ approach to the despair and let the listener wallow in the filth and decay that is their fragile, flawed existence.
Production-wise this reminds me a lot of bands like HIM, The 69 Eyes, Type O Negative as well as some DOOM elements such as Sabbath and Trouble.
I really appreciate the lingering of insecurity and doubt on this thing, this album really gets to the bottom of your soul and can make you think the worst about yourself (which doesn’t sound like a pleasant time I know) but the fact that they were able to execute such a mental and emotional blow is unreal.
All the tracks on here are cunningly catchy and banging giving the illusion of polished tracks when really they are just throwing 7 sonic knives into the heart of listeners and relishing in the agony.
I’ll say this much, if you’ve got fragile self-esteem then this isn’t the record for you, this is for those who believe they can handle the depressing wave thrown at them and want to experience a ‘journey’ rather than just a regular album. It’s right where it’s meant to be on all fronts and I can’t think of a more personally invasive album to have come out in the last few years! Corban Skipwith

Lineup:
Michał Sieroń: Vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Marcin Witek: Guitar
Adam Walczak: Guitar

Track list:
1. Cold Daylight
2. Grey Cobweb Veil
3. The Fog Descends
4. The Dying Sun
5. October
6. Dusk and Decay
7. Drowning

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