Beginning on December 1, the Mexican label Throats Productions will release Endless Journey, an album-length split by a beautifully matched pair, two striking atmospheric black metal bands we’ve praised here in the past — Onirism from France, and Pure Wrath from Indonesia. Today we bring you the premiere of two substantial songs from the split, one by each band.

ONIRISM

I first came upon Onirism in August of this year, through an advance track from a new EP named Sun, which was released by Naturmacht Productions the following month. That was the second EP released by this project, after The Well of Stars in 2016, a year that also saw Onirism’s release of a debut album, Cosmic Dream. The project is the work of a single creator, Antoine Guibert (aka Vrath), whose work is also present in the music of Catacombes, Hentgarm, KerIfern, and Belenos (with whom he has been a live performer).

When I heard the first music of Sun, I wrote: “Onirism isn’t the first band to combine utterly enthralling and transcendently beautiful sounds with the kind of savagery that makes you want to hide under your bed, but holy hell, they do it well.” And a similar kind of union occurs within this new song from the split, “Astral Forest“. Continue reading »