(written by Islander)
The Gloomy Radiance of the Moon is a Dutch solo project whose third album in three years will be released tomorrow (November 7th) by the Dusktone label, which introduces it with these words:
With its extremely long, descriptive track and album titles, with the mystery surrounding the identity of the creator but most of all with a new, cosmic, symphonic and pensive black metal album called As The Stars Shatter in Agony. Once again, The Gloomy Radiance of the Moon delivers a powerful, overtly theatrical and keyboard-driven take on black metal demonstrating the Nineties have not been forgotten at all.
The album consists of eight songs, and what we have for you today in advance of the album’s release is its second single, “To Surrender To the Eternal” — a song that manages to be both magnificent and mystical, violent and harrowing, heart-broken and haunting, and perhaps unexpectedly but undeniably poignant.
The music here draws together contrasting ingredients of dramatically varying intensity. The most dominating aspect is the orchestration, a combination mainly of massed strings and deep, haunting horns or upright bass, with bright and poignant flute-like tones surfacing here and there. The emotional quality of those immense orchestral melodies changes as the song unfolds, but in almost all respects they flow slowly, creating an aura of awe-inspiring grandeur.
On the other hand, the drumming flies in bursts of unhinged blasting, bracing gallops, and double-bass fury, only occasionally slowing the pace into a kind of funereal march. And, until near the end, the vocals take the shape of fast-spitting screeches and macabre croaking gutturals. They are as ugly and deranged as the melodies are measured, elegant, and beautiful.
As for the melodic moods, the beauty they elegantly create is dark, to be sure. In the song’s opening phase, the higher-range sounds are glorious, even awe-inspiring. But soon enough, the music segues into lush representations of grief and even despair, and those massed strings seem to forlornly plead when the drums slow.
Near the end, when the music is most sad, clear choral voices rise up like the solemn mourning of a celestial host.
Dusktone will release As The Stars Shatter in Agony on regular and limited-edition vinyl LP and in jewel-case CD and digital formats. They recommend it for fans of early Emperor, Limbonic Art, and Odium. Find details via the links below, and also lend your ears to the album’s first single, “Where Serpents Slither Through Endless Night“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/as-the-stars-shatter-in-agony
https://www.dusktone.org/?s=gloomy+radiance&id=113425&post_type=product
THE GLOOMY RADIANCE OF THE MOON:
https://thegloomyradianceofthemoon.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067668169642