ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Demo Review: Arbor "In Starless Night… We Follow A River of Blood" (Blood and Crescent Productions) by Devin J. Meaney

Band: Arbor
Location: New York
Country: USA
Genre: Black metal
Demo: In Starless Night… We Follow A River of Blood
Format: Cassette (limited to 200 copies)
Label: Blood and Crescent Productions
Release date: March 14, 2023
I got it in my head that I wanted to listen to some black metal! I didn’t acquire any new albums recently so as usual I hit up YouTube to see what I could find. Normally I have to do a bit of searching but literally the first band I came across was a band called Arbor! In 2023 they released a demo called “In Starless Night… We Follow A River of Blood”! This is the release I came across and by the first track I knew this one was worthy of a full listen.
It is your standard “old-school” sounding BM—and the production is super Lo-fi (think of early Burzum). More than any other band though I am reminded of Vaino! This is a good thing as Vaino produced one of my favorite black metal releases from the last few years! Automatically by reminding me of both Burzum and Vaino I will put this one up there with some of the better releases I found from 2023!
The vocals are your standard rasp and the guitar work is “super cold”—yet strangely the recordings have a bit of warmth to them. This was released on “Blood and Crescent”—something I haven’t heard of before. With that said, if they are releasing acts like this I would imagine they shouldn’t find it hard gaining some support within the black metal underground!
In conclusion this is not the best black metal I have heard. But again, it is some of the best I have heard in the last few months! Without doubt I’m sure fans of BM would be happy to listen to this—I know I was! So without further rambling I will just suggest you give this a listen. Or don’t? It’s truly up to you! -Devin J. Meaney

Lineup:
Taurus: Vocals, all instruments

Track list:
1. In Night’s Dream
2. Nightfall Eternal
3. Black Metal War

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