As Time and Tide Erodes Stone

I have been a cheerleader for the North American black metal scene on this site for a while now, viewing it as just about the most interesting corner of the metal planet at the present time. And good news! Listening to Lake of Blood’s exceptional debut record is one of those records that makes me feel entirely vindicated in doing so. This relatively new band (formed in 2007) have collaborated on a split release with one-man anarchist black metal institution Panopticon in 2009, and shortly embark on a US tour with noteworthy post-black newcomers Vestiges (another act I hope to get a review of up here soon). That should give you hints about their sound but don’t let it fool you. As Time and Tide Erode Stone is far from being as impenetrably raw as Panopticon (though this is rather like calling a band catchier than Merzbow), and they have an old-school riffing grit that distinguishes them from most of the ‘post’ acts that proliferate today.

Lake of Blood’s music cleverly balances several influences spanning various decades and at least two continents. At times there seems to be clear influence from edgy New York acts like Krallice and Liturgy in the dense dissonance of the riffing and screaming catharsis of the climaxes. But more often this austere granite is shot through with a deep seam of searing melody. The latter, particularly on second track Destroyer of Vices, assumes an otherworldly character reminiscent of Fleurety’s mid-90s output: vividly tuneful but when set against a ripping black metal template assuming a hallucinatory character that cries out for a wailing female vocal line. The effect is repeatedly aided and abetted by a technique- perhaps inspired by Cascadian acts like Skagos or of course Agalloch- of overlaying blackened riffs with acoustic guitar flourishes which entwine the sound like angry tree-roots, simultaneously giving it a richer harmonic colour and an enigmatic earthiness.

First song Proxigean Arcanum opens with the sound of waves rushing against a shore- so far, so USBM- but this effect dramatically finds its mirror in the crashing, halting rhythm section stabs and hoarse vocal roar that introduce the band proper. Even in these imposing opening gestures- a craggy landscape of exhausted, vomiting blackened doom- there is a cleverly-worked instability as these discordant thuds wrestle for prominence with a bleakly subdued post-rockish melodic sensibility. The latter is not something trendily effete, however. The track picks up into an energetic onslaught in which the riffing often assumes a vibrant, almost punkish sensibility comparable to early Bathory. Again, though, this repeatedly collides with that aforementioned East Coast influence as the rhythms become denser and tonalities harsher. This is music with an exploratory feel, always retaining an addictive immediacy for all its experimentation.

Lake of Blood have produced an album of real depth, that expertly moulds creative and original ideas into a record that is immersing and powerful. I would be surprised if a better debut album emerges in the black metal scene this year.