CoC : Spectral Lore - Spectral Lore : Review

Spectral Lore - _Spectral Lore_
by: Andreas Marouchos (3.5 out of 5)

It seems that monsieur Malefic has reached many a blackened soul with his distorted, heavily melancholic take on the black metal aesthetic. Spectral Lore's covert sole member has delved deep into the mind's most darkened areas and rose up with this delectable piece of eerie black metal. The emergent nebular atmosphere of the demo is only something to be found in the genre's most sincere output of late, namely Leviathan, Nachtmystium and Velvet Cacoon amongst others. Strangely for a black metal release, the demo's stripped-to-bare-essentials approach is non-tiring, thankfully eschewing extravagant crescendos and oft-used mind-numbing blasts. What with its droning, minimalist passages which segue into claustrophobic ambience or its delightfully Xasthur-esque compositions, the music carries the audial sensorium through a blackened, serpentine journey until the cathartic, post-rockish "The Cleansing Rain / Morningrise in the Eternal Fields" comes to assuage any exacerbated wounds. Finally, the demo embarks unto its interesting synth-based epilogue thus ending its satisfying near 50 minute duration. Minus the occasional hang-up, such as the out-of-synch vocals / whispers at times or the prolonged ambient passages, it can become quite a "grower" for the initiated and not only.

Contact: lycaon_ayr@yahoo.gr

(article published 22/3/2006)

ALBUMS
12/29/2014	C Drishner	9	Spectral Lore - III
12/29/2012	D Lake	6	Spectral Lore - Sentinel
5/21/2009	P Williams	7.5	Spectral Lore - I