#thegreatoldones — Public Fediverse posts

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #AnIsolatedMind #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Dysmor #Feb25 #IVoidhangerRecords #Portal #Review #Reviews #TheGreatOldOnes #VenomousEchoes #Voices

By Grymm

I’ve told many friends, both online and in-person, that for death metal to connect with me these days, it’s got to go for my throat in unflinching, unapologetic ways, and that usually involves taking one of two avenues. Either the artist in question has to go all-out musically in a way that’s memorable yet uncompromisingly heavy, brutal, technical, chaotic, or all of the above, or the music has to come from a place of personal sincerity and experience. With Venomous Echoes, the project of sole mastermind Ben Vanweelden, it’s a maelstrom of frightening proportions brought on by Vanweelden’s personal struggles with body dysmorphia.1 Dysmor, the project’s third album, further explores a topic that far too many people experience in silence with unfaltering intensity.

In just a hair under 46 minutes, Dysmor tells the tale of an unfortunate soul trapped in a hell of their own mental and physical image. Riffs swirl and undulate like slimy, breathing walls trapping you within its calculating vortex, with Vanweelden snarling and screaming in a barely hinged fashion, recalling both The Curator (Portal) and Peter Benjamin (Voices) in delivery and intensity. Programmed blastbeats pummel you into and through the shattered earth. Even the saxophone that opens up “Walls of Memories and Despair” warns you that things aren’t going to be okay going forward. But these things alone, while all good and everything that metalheads love and crave, aren’t going to be enough to make a lasting impact.

No, the real prize here is how well everything ties together thematically. It’s not easy to write music that’s barely tied together with the most frayed of twine, yet have it get its message across, but Vanheelden made it flow somehow. The odd groove that happens in the middle of “Walls of Memories and Despair” would have easily derailed the insanity that precedes and follows it, but it works. “Broken” starts of with a tranquil-enough piano melody before even that warps and distorts into something sinister and uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, the sad, subdued sobbing that punctuates just past the halfway mark of closing highlight “The Begetter” indicates that something terrible is going to happen, with the following riffs and closing atmospherics that would make The Great Old Ones proud pretty much confirming all suspicions.

Dysmor sounds appropriately grimy and discommoding, barely kissing against aural cacophony but not quite going beyond that line. With riffs slicing and julienning and a pissed-off drum machine laying waste to everything, anyone could see Dysmor getting swallowed up by a cyclone of its own design, but somehow it’s barely constrained enough to keep it together for the listener to hear. What can be a bit fatiguing is the length of some of the more atmospheric passages. By trimming some of the endings a bit (like the keyboard swirls that occur in the last almost two minutes of “Deafeated and Withered Creation”),2 it would help out a little with the overall impact.

But an impact this definitely made. I often worry whenever an artist writes music detailing a rather personal struggle, as it could very easily be heavy-handed or horribly delivered. But like An Isolated Mind before him, Vanweelden crafted an album that simultaneously crushes skulls and slices nerves. Ask anyone who’s ever experienced body dysmorphia, and they’ll tell you that no amount of external body shaming can compare to the hell of those who are beating themselves up,3 and Dysmor lays that all out to bare with amazing results. I sincerely both applaud Vanweelden for his bravery, intensity, and honesty in communicating his battles with body dysmorphia through his art, but I’m also pulling for his continued efforts in overcoming a silent, yet all-too-common, struggle.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: Ampwall | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#americanmetal #anisolatedmind #blackmetal #deathmetal #dysmor #feb25

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-27 · 12:27 UTC

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #AnIsolatedMind #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Dysmor #Feb25 #IVoidhangerRecords #Portal #Review #Reviews #TheGreatOldOnes #VenomousEchoes #Voices

By Grymm

I’ve told many friends, both online and in-person, that for death metal to connect with me these days, it’s got to go for my throat in unflinching, unapologetic ways, and that usually involves taking one of two avenues. Either the artist in question has to go all-out musically in a way that’s memorable yet uncompromisingly heavy, brutal, technical, chaotic, or all of the above, or the music has to come from a place of personal sincerity and experience. With Venomous Echoes, the project of sole mastermind Ben Vanweelden, it’s a maelstrom of frightening proportions brought on by Vanweelden’s personal struggles with body dysmorphia.1 Dysmor, the project’s third album, further explores a topic that far too many people experience in silence with unfaltering intensity.

In just a hair under 46 minutes, Dysmor tells the tale of an unfortunate soul trapped in a hell of their own mental and physical image. Riffs swirl and undulate like slimy, breathing walls trapping you within its calculating vortex, with Vanweelden snarling and screaming in a barely hinged fashion, recalling both The Curator (Portal) and Peter Benjamin (Voices) in delivery and intensity. Programmed blastbeats pummel you into and through the shattered earth. Even the saxophone that opens up “Walls of Memories and Despair” warns you that things aren’t going to be okay going forward. But these things alone, while all good and everything that metalheads love and crave, aren’t going to be enough to make a lasting impact.

No, the real prize here is how well everything ties together thematically. It’s not easy to write music that’s barely tied together with the most frayed of twine, yet have it get its message across, but Vanheelden made it flow somehow. The odd groove that happens in the middle of “Walls of Memories and Despair” would have easily derailed the insanity that precedes and follows it, but it works. “Broken” starts of with a tranquil-enough piano melody before even that warps and distorts into something sinister and uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, the sad, subdued sobbing that punctuates just past the halfway mark of closing highlight “The Begetter” indicates that something terrible is going to happen, with the following riffs and closing atmospherics that would make The Great Old Ones proud pretty much confirming all suspicions.

Dysmor sounds appropriately grimy and discommoding, barely kissing against aural cacophony but not quite going beyond that line. With riffs slicing and julienning and a pissed-off drum machine laying waste to everything, anyone could see Dysmor getting swallowed up by a cyclone of its own design, but somehow it’s barely constrained enough to keep it together for the listener to hear. What can be a bit fatiguing is the length of some of the more atmospheric passages. By trimming some of the endings a bit (like the keyboard swirls that occur in the last almost two minutes of “Deafeated and Withered Creation”),2 it would help out a little with the overall impact.

But an impact this definitely made. I often worry whenever an artist writes music detailing a rather personal struggle, as it could very easily be heavy-handed or horribly delivered. But like An Isolated Mind before him, Vanweelden crafted an album that simultaneously crushes skulls and slices nerves. Ask anyone who’s ever experienced body dysmorphia, and they’ll tell you that no amount of external body shaming can compare to the hell of those who are beating themselves up,3 and Dysmor lays that all out to bare with amazing results. I sincerely both applaud Vanweelden for his bravery, intensity, and honesty in communicating his battles with body dysmorphia through his art, but I’m also pulling for his continued efforts in overcoming a silent, yet all-too-common, struggle.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: Ampwall | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#americanmetal #anisolatedmind #blackmetal #deathmetal #dysmor #feb25

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-27 · 12:27 UTC

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #AnIsolatedMind #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Dysmor #Feb25 #IVoidhangerRecords #Portal #Review #Reviews #TheGreatOldOnes #VenomousEchoes #Voices

By Grymm

I’ve told many friends, both online and in-person, that for death metal to connect with me these days, it’s got to go for my throat in unflinching, unapologetic ways, and that usually involves taking one of two avenues. Either the artist in question has to go all-out musically in a way that’s memorable yet uncompromisingly heavy, brutal, technical, chaotic, or all of the above, or the music has to come from a place of personal sincerity and experience. With Venomous Echoes, the project of sole mastermind Ben Vanweelden, it’s a maelstrom of frightening proportions brought on by Vanweelden’s personal struggles with body dysmorphia.1 Dysmor, the project’s third album, further explores a topic that far too many people experience in silence with unfaltering intensity.

In just a hair under 46 minutes, Dysmor tells the tale of an unfortunate soul trapped in a hell of their own mental and physical image. Riffs swirl and undulate like slimy, breathing walls trapping you within its calculating vortex, with Vanweelden snarling and screaming in a barely hinged fashion, recalling both The Curator (Portal) and Peter Benjamin (Voices) in delivery and intensity. Programmed blastbeats pummel you into and through the shattered earth. Even the saxophone that opens up “Walls of Memories and Despair” warns you that things aren’t going to be okay going forward. But these things alone, while all good and everything that metalheads love and crave, aren’t going to be enough to make a lasting impact.

No, the real prize here is how well everything ties together thematically. It’s not easy to write music that’s barely tied together with the most frayed of twine, yet have it get its message across, but Vanheelden made it flow somehow. The odd groove that happens in the middle of “Walls of Memories and Despair” would have easily derailed the insanity that precedes and follows it, but it works. “Broken” starts of with a tranquil-enough piano melody before even that warps and distorts into something sinister and uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, the sad, subdued sobbing that punctuates just past the halfway mark of closing highlight “The Begetter” indicates that something terrible is going to happen, with the following riffs and closing atmospherics that would make The Great Old Ones proud pretty much confirming all suspicions.

Dysmor sounds appropriately grimy and discommoding, barely kissing against aural cacophony but not quite going beyond that line. With riffs slicing and julienning and a pissed-off drum machine laying waste to everything, anyone could see Dysmor getting swallowed up by a cyclone of its own design, but somehow it’s barely constrained enough to keep it together for the listener to hear. What can be a bit fatiguing is the length of some of the more atmospheric passages. By trimming some of the endings a bit (like the keyboard swirls that occur in the last almost two minutes of “Deafeated and Withered Creation”),2 it would help out a little with the overall impact.

But an impact this definitely made. I often worry whenever an artist writes music detailing a rather personal struggle, as it could very easily be heavy-handed or horribly delivered. But like An Isolated Mind before him, Vanweelden crafted an album that simultaneously crushes skulls and slices nerves. Ask anyone who’s ever experienced body dysmorphia, and they’ll tell you that no amount of external body shaming can compare to the hell of those who are beating themselves up,3 and Dysmor lays that all out to bare with amazing results. I sincerely both applaud Vanweelden for his bravery, intensity, and honesty in communicating his battles with body dysmorphia through his art, but I’m also pulling for his continued efforts in overcoming a silent, yet all-too-common, struggle.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: Ampwall | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#voices #venomousechoes #thegreatoldones #reviews #review #portal

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-27 · 12:27 UTC

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #AnIsolatedMind #BlackMetal #DeathMetal #Dysmor #Feb25 #IVoidhangerRecords #Portal #Review #Reviews #TheGreatOldOnes #VenomousEchoes #Voices

By Grymm

I’ve told many friends, both online and in-person, that for death metal to connect with me these days, it’s got to go for my throat in unflinching, unapologetic ways, and that usually involves taking one of two avenues. Either the artist in question has to go all-out musically in a way that’s memorable yet uncompromisingly heavy, brutal, technical, chaotic, or all of the above, or the music has to come from a place of personal sincerity and experience. With Venomous Echoes, the project of sole mastermind Ben Vanweelden, it’s a maelstrom of frightening proportions brought on by Vanweelden’s personal struggles with body dysmorphia.1 Dysmor, the project’s third album, further explores a topic that far too many people experience in silence with unfaltering intensity.

In just a hair under 46 minutes, Dysmor tells the tale of an unfortunate soul trapped in a hell of their own mental and physical image. Riffs swirl and undulate like slimy, breathing walls trapping you within its calculating vortex, with Vanweelden snarling and screaming in a barely hinged fashion, recalling both The Curator (Portal) and Peter Benjamin (Voices) in delivery and intensity. Programmed blastbeats pummel you into and through the shattered earth. Even the saxophone that opens up “Walls of Memories and Despair” warns you that things aren’t going to be okay going forward. But these things alone, while all good and everything that metalheads love and crave, aren’t going to be enough to make a lasting impact.

No, the real prize here is how well everything ties together thematically. It’s not easy to write music that’s barely tied together with the most frayed of twine, yet have it get its message across, but Vanheelden made it flow somehow. The odd groove that happens in the middle of “Walls of Memories and Despair” would have easily derailed the insanity that precedes and follows it, but it works. “Broken” starts of with a tranquil-enough piano melody before even that warps and distorts into something sinister and uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, the sad, subdued sobbing that punctuates just past the halfway mark of closing highlight “The Begetter” indicates that something terrible is going to happen, with the following riffs and closing atmospherics that would make The Great Old Ones proud pretty much confirming all suspicions.

Dysmor sounds appropriately grimy and discommoding, barely kissing against aural cacophony but not quite going beyond that line. With riffs slicing and julienning and a pissed-off drum machine laying waste to everything, anyone could see Dysmor getting swallowed up by a cyclone of its own design, but somehow it’s barely constrained enough to keep it together for the listener to hear. What can be a bit fatiguing is the length of some of the more atmospheric passages. By trimming some of the endings a bit (like the keyboard swirls that occur in the last almost two minutes of “Deafeated and Withered Creation”),2 it would help out a little with the overall impact.

But an impact this definitely made. I often worry whenever an artist writes music detailing a rather personal struggle, as it could very easily be heavy-handed or horribly delivered. But like An Isolated Mind before him, Vanweelden crafted an album that simultaneously crushes skulls and slices nerves. Ask anyone who’s ever experienced body dysmorphia, and they’ll tell you that no amount of external body shaming can compare to the hell of those who are beating themselves up,3 and Dysmor lays that all out to bare with amazing results. I sincerely both applaud Vanweelden for his bravery, intensity, and honesty in communicating his battles with body dysmorphia through his art, but I’m also pulling for his continued efforts in overcoming a silent, yet all-too-common, struggle.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: Ampwall | Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#americanmetal #anisolatedmind #blackmetal #deathmetal #dysmor #feb25

Isaac Ortega @[email protected] · 2025-02-21 · 23:48 UTC

First contender of this Year for my Best Of list #TheGreatOldOnes #Kadath #metal #metalmusic

#thegreatoldones #kadath #metal #metalmusic

Isaac Ortega @[email protected] · 2025-02-21 · 23:48 UTC

First contender of this Year for my Best Of list #TheGreatOldOnes #Kadath #metal #metalmusic

#thegreatoldones #kadath #metal #metalmusic

Isaac Ortega @[email protected] · 2025-02-21 · 23:48 UTC

First contender of this Year for my Best Of list #TheGreatOldOnes #Kadath #metal #metalmusic

#thegreatoldones #kadath #metal #metalmusic

Isaac Ortega @[email protected] · 2025-02-21 · 23:48 UTC

First contender of this Year for my Best Of list #TheGreatOldOnes #Kadath #metal #metalmusic

#metalmusic #metal #kadath #thegreatoldones

JESUS ATE YOUR FILESYSTEM 🇺🇦🇨🇿 @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:58 UTC

released a few days ago, by a band i am not familiar with, but is already on repeat:
https://thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com/album/kadath
#TheGreatOldOnes #BlackMetal

#blackmetal #thegreatoldones

JESUS ATE YOUR FILESYSTEM 🇺🇦🇨🇿 @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:58 UTC

released a few days ago, by a band i am not familiar with, but is already on repeat:
https://thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com/album/kadath
#TheGreatOldOnes #BlackMetal

#blackmetal #thegreatoldones

JESUS ATE YOUR FILESYSTEM 🇺🇦🇨🇿 @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:58 UTC

released a few days ago, by a band i am not familiar with, but is already on repeat:
https://thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com/album/kadath
#TheGreatOldOnes #BlackMetal

#blackmetal #thegreatoldones

JESUS ATE YOUR FILESYSTEM 🇺🇦🇨🇿 @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:58 UTC

released a few days ago, by a band i am not familiar with, but is already on repeat:
https://thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com/album/kadath
#TheGreatOldOnes #BlackMetal

#thegreatoldones #blackmetal

JESUS ATE YOUR FILESYSTEM 🇺🇦🇨🇿 @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 19:58 UTC

released a few days ago, by a band i am not familiar with, but is already on repeat:
https://thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com/album/kadath
#TheGreatOldOnes #BlackMetal

#blackmetal #thegreatoldones

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 12:11 UTC

The Great Old Ones – Kadath Review

By Eldritch Elitist

I’m not sure why The Great Old Ones continue to be lumped in with the post-black metal scene. Their general reliance on space-y tremolo riffs made sense of the post-black tag up through 2017’s EOD, but 2019’s Cosmicism felt so viscerally progressive as to displace the band from any notable acts under that particular genre umbrella. And yeah, sub-subgenre tags are thin by their very nature, but with the release of Kadath, the notion that The Great Old Ones remain “post” anything feels downright silly. The en-beefening of the band’s sound on Cosmicism grows more pronounced with Kadath; a riffier, more technically immediate record, and as large of an evolutionary step as one might expect following a lengthy gestation. As for whether Kadath’s heavier approach was worth the weight, the answer is as complicated as The Great Old Ones’ sound.

That sound’s intricately textured density remains, for me, one of the main selling points of The Great Old Ones. As with prior works, Kadath is a record informed by its atmosphere, that otherworldly feeling that the layers of reverb-drenched guitars obscure endless depths. That this aesthetic stays largely intact despite Kadath’s riff-forward nature is impressive. Opener “Me, the Dreamer” serves as a microcosm of this balance, its unpredictable shifts conjuring a sense of unease as the band explores territory seemingly inspired equally by Immortal and Blood Incantation. Kadath’s breadth of variety is markedly wider than any prior The Great Old Ones album, as tactful implementation of death metal heft and even gothic rock (See: “In the Mouth of Madness”) regularly serve a purpose. This makes Kadath a potentially ideal jumping off point for anyone new to the band who might otherwise be turned away by their post-black reputation.

As impressive as this evolution sounds on paper, Kadath’s bid at a more immediately gratifying take on The Great Old Ones sound leaves me feeling partially dissatisfied. I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve spent with this record, but I rarely found myself hypnotically sinking into its atmosphere as I did with EOD and especially Cosmicism. Its regular tonal and structural songwriting pivots are superficially fun, yet often illogical in the scope of a full composition. The fifteen-minute “Leng,” while frequently beautiful, fails to link up its disparate sections in a fulfilling fashion. Conversely, at other times The Great Old Ones seem to consciously play things safe, relying on more straightforward (yet still lengthy) structures that lack rhythmic bite or a compelling atmosphere (“Astral Void (End of the Dream)”). It’s all good, but most of Kadath is merely just good, and I can’t help but wonder whether the shift in the majority of the band’s lineup is partially to blame.

The lineup shift is acutely felt behind the drum kit, as I detected the departure of Léo Isnard – one of my favorite drummers in black metal – in Kadath’s music even before reading the details on The Great Old Ones’ new lineup. It should be emphasized that new drummer Julian Deana is responsible for some of the album’s best passages; the power metal-like double bass drives in “Under the Sign of Koth,” for instance, help make that track one of Kadath’s best. Yet where the drum performances seemed to proactively shape the music on past releases, Kadath’s drumming feels more reactive and less adventurous. Deana’s performances are flawless and completely impressive on a technical level, but this seemingly unintentional shift in rhythmic philosophy has, for me, altered the shape of the band’s music. Kadath also sounds muddier from a production standpoint than its predecessor, and while some level of obscurity is crucial to The Great Old Ones’ atmosphere, this record’s many low-end riffs often blur together as a result.

I realize this review feels largely negative considering my insistence on Kadath’s goodness, but I’ve twice written about the reasons why I love The Great Old Ones’ music, and most of those reasons remain intact with this record. Kadath merely fails to live up to my personal expectations of what I’ve come to expect from this band, and as such, its shortcomings feel all the more glaring. Make no mistake: Kadath is a frequently captivating marriage of black metal riff craft and distinct artistic intent that could only come from The Great Old Ones. I’m not in love with all of its choices, but I’d rather this band present me with an ambitious pivot such as this over a hypothetical Cosmicism II.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com | thegreatoldonesband.com | facebook.com/thegreatoldones
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #BloodIncantation #FrenchMetal #Immortal #Jan25 #Kadath #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMist #TheGreatOldOnes

#blackmetal #bloodincantation #frenchmetal #immortal #jan25 #kadath

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 12:11 UTC

The Great Old Ones – Kadath Review

By Eldritch Elitist

I’m not sure why The Great Old Ones continue to be lumped in with the post-black metal scene. Their general reliance on space-y tremolo riffs made sense of the post-black tag up through 2017’s EOD, but 2019’s Cosmicism felt so viscerally progressive as to displace the band from any notable acts under that particular genre umbrella. And yeah, sub-subgenre tags are thin by their very nature, but with the release of Kadath, the notion that The Great Old Ones remain “post” anything feels downright silly. The en-beefening of the band’s sound on Cosmicism grows more pronounced with Kadath; a riffier, more technically immediate record, and as large of an evolutionary step as one might expect following a lengthy gestation. As for whether Kadath’s heavier approach was worth the weight, the answer is as complicated as The Great Old Ones’ sound.

That sound’s intricately textured density remains, for me, one of the main selling points of The Great Old Ones. As with prior works, Kadath is a record informed by its atmosphere, that otherworldly feeling that the layers of reverb-drenched guitars obscure endless depths. That this aesthetic stays largely intact despite Kadath’s riff-forward nature is impressive. Opener “Me, the Dreamer” serves as a microcosm of this balance, its unpredictable shifts conjuring a sense of unease as the band explores territory seemingly inspired equally by Immortal and Blood Incantation. Kadath’s breadth of variety is markedly wider than any prior The Great Old Ones album, as tactful implementation of death metal heft and even gothic rock (See: “In the Mouth of Madness”) regularly serve a purpose. This makes Kadath a potentially ideal jumping off point for anyone new to the band who might otherwise be turned away by their post-black reputation.

As impressive as this evolution sounds on paper, Kadath’s bid at a more immediately gratifying take on The Great Old Ones sound leaves me feeling partially dissatisfied. I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve spent with this record, but I rarely found myself hypnotically sinking into its atmosphere as I did with EOD and especially Cosmicism. Its regular tonal and structural songwriting pivots are superficially fun, yet often illogical in the scope of a full composition. The fifteen-minute “Leng,” while frequently beautiful, fails to link up its disparate sections in a fulfilling fashion. Conversely, at other times The Great Old Ones seem to consciously play things safe, relying on more straightforward (yet still lengthy) structures that lack rhythmic bite or a compelling atmosphere (“Astral Void (End of the Dream)”). It’s all good, but most of Kadath is merely just good, and I can’t help but wonder whether the shift in the majority of the band’s lineup is partially to blame.

The lineup shift is acutely felt behind the drum kit, as I detected the departure of Léo Isnard – one of my favorite drummers in black metal – in Kadath’s music even before reading the details on The Great Old Ones’ new lineup. It should be emphasized that new drummer Julian Deana is responsible for some of the album’s best passages; the power metal-like double bass drives in “Under the Sign of Koth,” for instance, help make that track one of Kadath’s best. Yet where the drum performances seemed to proactively shape the music on past releases, Kadath’s drumming feels more reactive and less adventurous. Deana’s performances are flawless and completely impressive on a technical level, but this seemingly unintentional shift in rhythmic philosophy has, for me, altered the shape of the band’s music. Kadath also sounds muddier from a production standpoint than its predecessor, and while some level of obscurity is crucial to The Great Old Ones’ atmosphere, this record’s many low-end riffs often blur together as a result.

I realize this review feels largely negative considering my insistence on Kadath’s goodness, but I’ve twice written about the reasons why I love The Great Old Ones’ music, and most of those reasons remain intact with this record. Kadath merely fails to live up to my personal expectations of what I’ve come to expect from this band, and as such, its shortcomings feel all the more glaring. Make no mistake: Kadath is a frequently captivating marriage of black metal riff craft and distinct artistic intent that could only come from The Great Old Ones. I’m not in love with all of its choices, but I’d rather this band present me with an ambitious pivot such as this over a hypothetical Cosmicism II.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com | thegreatoldonesband.com | facebook.com/thegreatoldones
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #BloodIncantation #FrenchMetal #Immortal #Jan25 #Kadath #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMist #TheGreatOldOnes

#blackmetal #bloodincantation #frenchmetal #immortal #jan25 #kadath

Angry Metal Guy @[email protected] · 2025-02-03 · 12:11 UTC

The Great Old Ones – Kadath Review

By Eldritch Elitist

I’m not sure why The Great Old Ones continue to be lumped in with the post-black metal scene. Their general reliance on space-y tremolo riffs made sense of the post-black tag up through 2017’s EOD, but 2019’s Cosmicism felt so viscerally progressive as to displace the band from any notable acts under that particular genre umbrella. And yeah, sub-subgenre tags are thin by their very nature, but with the release of Kadath, the notion that The Great Old Ones remain “post” anything feels downright silly. The en-beefening of the band’s sound on Cosmicism grows more pronounced with Kadath; a riffier, more technically immediate record, and as large of an evolutionary step as one might expect following a lengthy gestation. As for whether Kadath’s heavier approach was worth the weight, the answer is as complicated as The Great Old Ones’ sound.

That sound’s intricately textured density remains, for me, one of the main selling points of The Great Old Ones. As with prior works, Kadath is a record informed by its atmosphere, that otherworldly feeling that the layers of reverb-drenched guitars obscure endless depths. That this aesthetic stays largely intact despite Kadath’s riff-forward nature is impressive. Opener “Me, the Dreamer” serves as a microcosm of this balance, its unpredictable shifts conjuring a sense of unease as the band explores territory seemingly inspired equally by Immortal and Blood Incantation. Kadath’s breadth of variety is markedly wider than any prior The Great Old Ones album, as tactful implementation of death metal heft and even gothic rock (See: “In the Mouth of Madness”) regularly serve a purpose. This makes Kadath a potentially ideal jumping off point for anyone new to the band who might otherwise be turned away by their post-black reputation.

As impressive as this evolution sounds on paper, Kadath’s bid at a more immediately gratifying take on The Great Old Ones sound leaves me feeling partially dissatisfied. I’ve enjoyed every moment I’ve spent with this record, but I rarely found myself hypnotically sinking into its atmosphere as I did with EOD and especially Cosmicism. Its regular tonal and structural songwriting pivots are superficially fun, yet often illogical in the scope of a full composition. The fifteen-minute “Leng,” while frequently beautiful, fails to link up its disparate sections in a fulfilling fashion. Conversely, at other times The Great Old Ones seem to consciously play things safe, relying on more straightforward (yet still lengthy) structures that lack rhythmic bite or a compelling atmosphere (“Astral Void (End of the Dream)”). It’s all good, but most of Kadath is merely just good, and I can’t help but wonder whether the shift in the majority of the band’s lineup is partially to blame.

The lineup shift is acutely felt behind the drum kit, as I detected the departure of Léo Isnard – one of my favorite drummers in black metal – in Kadath’s music even before reading the details on The Great Old Ones’ new lineup. It should be emphasized that new drummer Julian Deana is responsible for some of the album’s best passages; the power metal-like double bass drives in “Under the Sign of Koth,” for instance, help make that track one of Kadath’s best. Yet where the drum performances seemed to proactively shape the music on past releases, Kadath’s drumming feels more reactive and less adventurous. Deana’s performances are flawless and completely impressive on a technical level, but this seemingly unintentional shift in rhythmic philosophy has, for me, altered the shape of the band’s music. Kadath also sounds muddier from a production standpoint than its predecessor, and while some level of obscurity is crucial to The Great Old Ones’ atmosphere, this record’s many low-end riffs often blur together as a result.

I realize this review feels largely negative considering my insistence on Kadath’s goodness, but I’ve twice written about the reasons why I love The Great Old Ones’ music, and most of those reasons remain intact with this record. Kadath merely fails to live up to my personal expectations of what I’ve come to expect from this band, and as such, its shortcomings feel all the more glaring. Make no mistake: Kadath is a frequently captivating marriage of black metal riff craft and distinct artistic intent that could only come from The Great Old Ones. I’m not in love with all of its choices, but I’d rather this band present me with an ambitious pivot such as this over a hypothetical Cosmicism II.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: thegreatoldonessom.bandcamp.com | thegreatoldonesband.com | facebook.com/thegreatoldones
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

#2025 #30 #BlackMetal #BloodIncantation #FrenchMetal #Immortal #Jan25 #Kadath #Review #Reviews #SeasonOfMist #TheGreatOldOnes

#thegreatoldones #seasonofmist #reviews #review #kadath #jan25

Your Future Ex @[email protected] · 2024-12-23 · 22:50 UTC

Just in time for #BlackMetalMonday by @HailsandAles:

#TheGreatOldOnes: Under the Sign of Koth

#ultha #regardeleshommestomber #akhlys #postblackmetal #atmosphericblackmetal #thegreatoldones

Your Future Ex @[email protected] · 2024-12-23 · 22:50 UTC

Just in time for #BlackMetalMonday by @HailsandAles:

#TheGreatOldOnes: Under the Sign of Koth

#ultha #regardeleshommestomber #akhlys #postblackmetal #atmosphericblackmetal #thegreatoldones

Your Future Ex @[email protected] · 2024-12-23 · 22:50 UTC

Just in time for #BlackMetalMonday by @HailsandAles:

#TheGreatOldOnes: Under the Sign of Koth

#ultha #regardeleshommestomber #akhlys #postblackmetal #atmosphericblackmetal #thegreatoldones

Your Future Ex @[email protected] · 2024-12-23 · 22:50 UTC

Just in time for #BlackMetalMonday by @HailsandAles:

#TheGreatOldOnes: Under the Sign of Koth