Building on the powerful strides made across their seven albums to date, New York's own Yellow Eyes have made something of a statement here with Confusion Gate, a lengthy, intense and complex work that more than lives up to its title on initial listens. From the oddly sinister cover art to the song titles, experiencing this album feels like opening a book and reading from a random page - it feels as though you need an explainer to understand what is going on, to say the least. Eccentric to the point of madness, the likes of opener Brush the Frozen Horse seem to be telling a story that you can't understand and musically the dense battery of sounds barely helps.

Still something like early Blut Aus Nord plus Krallice with lots of odd effects here and there like fluttering nature sounds and footsteps, the band are as likely to throw in some psychedelic synths as they are to buckle down and focus on crushing the listener's ears. Sometimes the keyboards can be pretty, almost folky, as starting The Thought of Death, or more ambient and atmospheric as in later in the same piece, but they're always well-thought-out and implemented. Yellow Eyes' compositional and instrumental skills in general are superb, drummer Mike Rekevics especially having the sort of abilities that make him a pleasure to listen to even when blasting.

And that's necessary, as there's much to fathom overall so making the experience as interesting as possible is vital if you want to actually enjoy the album! The band succeeds; each of the lengthy (up to nearly ten minutes at their longest) black metal rumbles here work well in isolation and use their running time in a way that is hypnotic without growing dull. Aside from brief acoustic/ambient interludes Nocturne, Beyond, and The Entrance, the album is uninterested in scene-setting so much as ploughing onward, and although initial listens may not seem that way there is enough difference between the initially samey-seeming pieces to stop boredom approaching.

The best pieces come towards the end of the runtime, the more melodically-infused and even grandiose at points I Fear the Master's Murmur staying with you and contrasting well with the more aggressive and anguished The Scent of Black Mud that follows after an interlude. On the closing title track, however, things take a turn for the slower, a Burzumic trance settling with the keyboards before speed and sullen aggression take over, and the first hints of a solution open before you. Another excellent piece of black metal from the Americans, possibly their best album yet, and certainly worth experiencing for necronauts who don't mind puzzling a little over a record.