Drouth – Excerpts from a Dread Liturgy (Black Metal Manifest)
Wow, I ended up liking this one more than I expected. Leave it to US black metal to excite me again, after months and months of drudgery. I was getting sick of the snowstorm tremolo, the corpse paint no one remembers the purpose of anymore, the lo-fi ” but that’s how it’s supposed to sound” aesthetic (when actually they can’t do better), or, ugh, the “Popeye sure sounds angry” vocals. It’s possible to take the classic forms of the genre and keep them authentic, not necessarily new, but authentic. Playing around with classic is never a bad thing if you grasp what it is, I’ve said that a number of times here, and Drouth is more proof of the argument with their latest, Excerpts from a Dread Liturgy.
These guys work with practically everything a black metal fan could want, but they do it in a way that hides the separate parts in a clear, concise vision, yet there’s enough bending to please the more eccentric. Painful, emotional riffs, imposing solos, mournful shrieks and bitter wails that lash out like a whip, it’s just a fucking good time. Drouth work a special magic with various elements of black metal, creating a showcase of all the good and none of the trite. It utilizes a wide variety of forms, but yet avoids the inarticulate nonsense so common the genre for the sake of “aesthetic”. Excerpts of a Dread Liturgy is just a great album that exemplifies black metal, simple as that and let’s end there.
Drouth – Excerpts of a Dread Liturgy
Translation Loss Records
Cover Art: Matt Stikker
4.7 / 5
