US black metal group Shaidar Logoth have reissued their vicious 2015 effort Chapter II: The Ritualist on vinyl via Sentient Ruin. With haunting, doomy builds leading to some dramatic payoffs, this was one of my favorite underground black metal releases of that year.
Not unlike the last Leviathan release, this album showcases quite a bit of variety in black metal styles. Shaidar Logoth have considerably upped their songwriting game creating doomy, droning tension-builders, explosions of 2nd wave akin to Darkthrone and Mayhem, and of course their usual raining of atmospheric tremolos. Take “The Scourge” as an example. The track opens like a jump-scare after the slogging pace of the previous track. The borderline black-n-roll bruises with catchy riffs, but then broadens into a more repetitious soundscape. This, in turn, fades into a brief ambient conclusion which offers a perfect segue-way into “The Blight”'s moody post-metal intro.
It's this excellent play of dynamics and tempo that is absolutely paramount to creating something both enjoyable and consistently engaging. Even without the black metal shrieks, which have been reduced quite a bit on this album, the music is able to tell a story that seems to have clear chapters and climaxes. It's the difference between most modern “horror” movies and classics like Halloween or the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The former are so bloated with blood and gore that we become desensitized and complacent. What makes the latter work so well are the quiet breaks that leave the audience unsure of where and when the next terror will come. It is in this that Shaider Logoth succeed in building that same profound sense of dread with their compositions and arrangement.
Final word: a major step forward for the group and an exemplary release in the genre. If you have read some of my other reviews, you may have noticed a pattern in my contempt for, lacking a better word, “basic” atmospheric BM. Please understand, I am not telling anyone to quit making music. My criticisms should be taken as more of a gauntlet being thrown down to encourage growth. With that in mind, I would recommend taking Chapter II: The Ritualist into account when considering what it means to compose something that stands out. That's just my soapbox for today..
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