We are always ahead of the curve here at MetalReviews.com, it being a pleasure to cover New York blastsmiths Yellow Eyes with an EP review back in 2014, after which, hmm, we missed two excellent follow-up albums from them! We're never ones to make the same mistake thrice, however, and so it's time to check in with the band (now a five-piece, sharing members with other such New Wave of United States Black Metal bands as Anicon, Vanum, and Fell Voices) on what is now their fifth full-length. Dense and technical in style, something like early Blut Aus Nord given an extra dose of dissonance and forced to listen to a lot of Krallice, Rare Field Ceiling is divided into six chunks of noise, each between six and eight minutes in length. Each has much to recommend it, grasping your attention with building blocks of eerie, distorted riffing, distant but not buried screams, and clattering, post-Burzumic waves of almost textural drums to great effect, and thanks to added bells and whistles like the haunting ambient sections that lead you into and out of each track, it's a memorable listen as well.

Sometimes this can be in the form of folky guitar plucking, as on Light Delusion Curtain, sometimes merely extended feedback as on Nutrient Painting which then launches into a violent volley of riffs, interrupted by a kind of twisted orchestration more reminiscent of early Abigor than anything. These little experimentations help break up the blackened beating and ensure that they remain hypnotic and interesting rather than collapsing into bursts of monotonous noise. And with outright variations on the theme like the title track's initial oddly post-punk vibe to both melodic riffing and drumming, and closing piece Maritime Flare which is completely ambient and dominated by ghostly female vocals and rustling effects, there's much to appreciate. Yet even when at their most straightforward and blasting, as on ferocious opener Warmth Trance Reversal, Yellow Eyes still include some background clinking or flashes of female vocals, and know the value of dynamics, slowing or speeding up when necessary to hit the listener harder. The slowest track here overall is No Dust and it's terrific, a harrowing atmosphere set early and only enhanced as the band increase the tempo. As a whole it's a terrifically-written album, savage and heavy but accessible to black metal fans and yet another great example of NWOUSBM in 2019, traditional in effect but modern in execution. A band well worth catching up on.