Veilburner – Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy (Gnostic Nihilistic Experimental Black Metal)
You think that everything’s been done until you come across an act like Pennsylvania’s Veilburner and realize the space left to create new forms in any genre is actually infinite. People forget, though set patterns exist and keep us safe at night so we can latch on to our dwindling mortality, we need variation and creativity, otherwise the generation that loved a type of music will die with it. The last release by this mysterious duo caught my attention, but I seem to recall it came into the promos too late and I didn’t have time for it. That or, more likely, the ideas present therein where not yet into the full form that we find here. Honestly, whatever the cause, glad my first review of Veilburner is for their new one, Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy, because it’s far above the last. Ambitious and cathartic as hell, you’re fully immersed in spite of how unsettling it is at first.
Opening with bizarre chanting matching a militant tempo, Veilburner soon plays with so many approaches you’ll forget what genre this is. It’s not even fair to call it anything, honestly. Almost immediately you’re thrust into an addictive pattern that soon whirlwinds into shifting time signatures and gurgling vocals strangely delivered, at least at times, with a touch of sentiment. There’s almost no point in this entire album where the listener has any sense of what’s coming. Veilburner is not afraid to change dissonance to harmony, they fear neither synth nor industrial elements, and they certainly show no fear when faced with the path on which their experimentation takes them. Each track could stand as its own tale, yet it’s all interconnected in jarring ways. That’s probably because it all sounds so rather new that it’s impossible not to find yourself smiling as the sense of wonder you first experienced in hearing any kind of black metal is reawakened. The core spirit of rebellion that is at the heart of all metal is here, but finally in a form that demands of the listener more than you’ve likely experienced prior. Genuinely innovative.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Veilburner – Longing for Triumph, Reeking of Tragedy
Transcending Obscurity
Cover Art: Luciana Nedelea (Luciana Nedelea Artworks)
4.8 / 5
