Illusive Key – Consume Us (Atmospheric Ritualistic Black Metal)

 

Illusive Key, a German-Belgian coven who’ve just recently allowed their eyes to glow from far back in the darkness, are the type of band that prefers a bit of mystery. It’s clear, having listened to this thoroughly, that there’s skill to be found here, meaning they likely have experience outside of this project. And to ruin the mystery for you, it consists of members of the prolific Déhà, the great Häxenzijrkell, and the utterly overwhelming Trogne. Those bands aside, Illusive Key is different, instead preferring to allow the music to glimmer like candles against obsidian, as evidenced by Consume Us, a four-track séance in a maelstrom of 1990s black metal fury where tradition and delirium clash horns until they’re twisted together.

   

The opener unfurls a velvet carpet with synth portent before a sudden detonation of tremolo riffs and blast beats drags you through the fury of Illusive Key. For all of its riffing hanging in the thick air of incense smoke, Consume Us constantly warps its black metal frame with spectral grace. You’ll find electronics slithering beneath the surface, with flickers of dissonance mutating the brief moments where things sound familiar. The power of contrast here is of note, with each of the four, epic pirouettes balancing hallucination with hammer-like aggression, and the occasional trance-like passages rousing primal rage to the point of ritualism. One additional detail to consider are the vocals, which manage to balance themselves somewhere between psychotic preacher and abyssal wraith, yet with enough phlegm to spread open the album’s cadaverous atmosphere. Add some serpentine solos, in all their mournfulness, and you’ll find true astral elegance in Consume Us down to the marble-like pallor of pseudocorpse gracing its cover. So worship this fine reliquary of classic black metal as you enter the stranger realms created from its ashes by Illusive Key.

 

Illusive Key Official Instagram

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Illusive Key – Consume Us
Amor Fati Productions
Cover Art: Sophia Melissa
4.7 / 5