Xasthur is one of the most treasured bands in the Black Metal underground, and with good reason. Believe me when I say that Xasthur creates one of the darkest, most depressive atmospheres I’ve ever heard.

The atmosphere is created by putting some very fuzzy and blurry guitars as well as some incredibly dark atmospheric keyboards in the back; over that, Malefic plays some extremely depressive and hypnotic keyboards and/or guitars that are clearer and higher in the mix. With this, Malefic creates an extremely effective dream like sound that totally captivates you; most of the times the music is mid or slow paced, although there are some fast parts as well. The drums are extremely minimal; but in this style of Black Metal, I couldn’t think of a better way of them being played because a more technical or complex drumming could interfere with the hypnotic atmosphere. The vocals sound really dark and grim because of the several distortions Malefic applies to his already disturbing growls; I think they’re extremely fitting to the music.

Something that makes this album very interesting is the way Malefic experiments with his sound; for example, Abysmal Depths Are Flooded begins with a mid/fast tremolo riff playing in the back as described before in this review; over that an acoustic guitar, with what seems a bit of delay, is played but it can only be heard in one of the channels or speakers, then the guitar passage can be heard in the other speaker as well but in a different key; sounds cool? yep, original? indeed, disturbing? most definitely.

The production is quite good for an underground release, very fitting to Xasthur’s sound and to a certain point necessary to create this dream like sound.

Xasthur is definitely not for everyone, but go ahead if you feel intrigued. If you like Doom Metal, it’s probable you’ll like it because it’s obvious that Xasthur draws a lot from this genre; if you like slow paced Black Metal or the Doom influenced one you’ll love this one.

One of the most original bands from the underground Black Metal scene these days; I’m glad there are bands like Xasthur and Leviathan that aren’t afraid to go beyond the classic tremolo picking riffs with blast beats through all the song. Black Metal is such an amazing and deep genre, why not experiment with it.

Not as good as some of Xasthur's previous releases but still an excellent album by this one man project; definitely one of the best releases of the year.