Blood of the Black Owl: A Banishing Ritual

Bindrune Recordings is not your middle of the road type of underground label. Often are their artists rooted into spirituality / mysticism. Blood of the Black Owl could not be more at home than here, since their take on the black metal arts is always inspired by mystical concepts and Shamanic themes /interpretations.

A Banishing Ritual is a piece that is actually different from what we're used to hearing from Chet Scott, Daniel Herod and James Woodhead. In fact, due to how personal this music was, it was considered as unsuitable for outside audiences at some point. Different it is, but we can recognize the basic essence that makes Blood of the Black Owl what it is. The black metal is rather scarce here. The emphasis has been put on the more ambient / mystical and Shamanic aspect of their work. This makes A Banishing Ritual quite a spiritual release. It is mostly slow in pace and evolution, repetitive, mesmerizing and contains lots of ambience being created by the keyboards. The vibe is somber, mysterious, haunted and slightly psychedelic at times. As for the heavier tones, a few places we can hear a bit of heavy distorted guitars work, but more into a doom/black metal style, which fits the mood very well. The vocals are varied, ranging from whispers, clean spoken to harsh and wicked, without forgetting the usual Shamanic incantations. The, mostly long compositions (my CD player read four although apparently this is a one 41 minutes + track) take a certain time to evaluate, but always end up into something pleasant to listen. In the end, one could say that A Banishing Ritual is a work of down to earth mysticism.

Track listing:
1 – A Banishing Ritual (Into White)

Added: April 4th 2010
Reviewer: Denis Brunelle
Score:
Related Link: Bindrune Recordings
Hits: 2901
Language: english

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