Satanath Records - Reviews: 074GD

Reviews: 074GD

Dusk is the third full-length of the Costa Rican depressive black metal band Black Whispers, which began as a solo project in 2013 and is now a full band that has made live performances.

The album represents an evolution in style. While it could still be considered a work of DSBM, it reflects avant-garde and experimental ingredients within a framework of raw black metal, and the results are captivating — as you will discover for yourselves through our premiere of a new album track named “Weighing Fade Away” in advance of the record’s November 28 release.

This new song seizes attention immediately with its contagious vibrancy, thanks to a spray of vivid, glittering guitars, fast, pulse-pumping drums, and animated bass notes. Scalding screams introduce an ingredient of wretched torment and connect it to its DSBM antecedents.

But as the song proceeds, it changes. The almost exultant feeling that charges through the opening begins to fall into more distressing moods, albeit with ringing chords that are no less gripping. The shrieking vocals are replaced by grim, solemn chants and deep spoken words, surrounded by dire guitar harmonies and double-bass propulsion.

The snare drum relentlessly cracks its whip against the listener’s neck until the drums fall silent for a time, providing space for a shimmering mist of sound, and terrorizing vocal intensity. When the drums return, the music seems to blare in anguish, like a siren.

Dusk will be co-released by GrimmDistribution with The End Of Time Records and More Hate Productions. They describe it as “a compositionally diverse and experimental album… a journey into the darkness and the harder feelings of the human condition”, and recommend it for fans of YGG, ULVEGR, MGLA, DRUDKH, KHORS, HORNA, and CULT OF FIRE.

https://www.nocleansinging.com/2021/11/11/an-ncs-premiere-black-whispers-weighing-fade-away/

Today’s review is of Costa Rican Depressive Black Metal band Black Whispers’ new album.

This release incorporates the desperate and raw elements that are necessary for a good full-length of this subgenre, and it combines them with some occasional Avant-Garde touches that make it all the more curious, while never quite abandoning the wretched and hopeless ambience created, simply adding some more depth to it.

These elements are only occasional, and most of the album is performed in your common DSBM way, adding some acoustic and piano parts between the tremolo picked passages of wailing to assure a deprivation of solace to the listener throughout their negative soundscape. Perhaps being most comparable to Leviathan, the band incorporates some form of subtle melody that scorns from its beauty the vast misery from the songs. My personal highlights are “Castle Of Self-destruction” and “Disappointment”.

I recommend this album to fans of DSBM.

https://www.bathoryzine.com/2022/01/black-whispers-dusk-review-by-varg.html

Formada en Cartago, Costa Rica, por Josué Fonseca en 2014 y actualmente integrada por Kevin Montenegro al bajo, Gustavo Quirós a la batería y Marlon Alpizar a la guitarra, Black Whispers es una banda de depressive suicidal black metal, que con un sonido crudo y veloz, estrena su tercer material de larga duración titulado Dusk a través de Satanath Records.

Combinando un estilo cavernoso con elementos de heavy metal, Dusk es un álbum que consigue lograr un sonido místico en su melancolía. Grandilocuente en su atmósfera, no la logra por medio de la melodía, los sintetizadores o la producción, sino a través de un macizo riffeo heredado de su influencia raw black metal y constantemente apoyado por elementos disonantes en la composición, mismos que terminan por redondear el sonido.

A pesar de esto, es un álbum que no termina de balancearse de todo, pues contando con alguno que otro guiño al post-rock y al “avant-garde” (esto último únicamente reflejado en la pieza “The Black Whispers”, un macabro paisaje sonoro de 2:21 minutos), se percibe una mezcla que no termina de cuajar del todo.

Dusk es definitivamente un álbum más acelerado que el promedio de producciones de DSBM. Cuenta con pasajes interesantes que definitivamente no son la normal para el estilo. Varía en intensidad y se esfuerza por presentar algo nuevo, y a pesar de que puede llegar a ser redundante en algunos de sus intentos, no decepcionará ni a fans del depressive, ni a seguidores del raw.

https://tracktohell.com/black-whispers-dusk-2021/

Costa Rican black metallers Black Whispers excel at the depressive end of the black metal spectrum, and ‘Dusk’ is their first effort in 6 years since their last full length ‘Shades of Bleakness’ in 2015. ‘Dusk’ is out now through Grimm Distribution, and is a co-release with More Hate Productions and The End of Time Records.

‘Intro’ sets our atmosphere immediately, with weeping piano keys tinkling in a murky gloom as it bleeds into ‘Castle of Selfdestruction’; midpaced and dense black metal fuzz. It doesn’t really buzz with any great intensity, this is much more of a draining release. Cold riffs soak within a cascade of blastbeats, and everytHing is covered in a veil of depression. There’s almost a constant flow of frozen black metal to come throughout, from the moody clattering of ‘Weighing Fade Away’ to the sinister, surging title track and the utter grimness of ‘Void’. Wherever you look, you’re surrounded by monochromatic fury and bleak snarling frigidity. By the time the creeping piano returns in ‘Outro’, the circle of misery is complete and death claims us all.

It might seem remarkable to find something so bleak and cold from such a hot place, but that old cliche is meaningless as depression and black metal are feelings, not locations. ‘Dusk’ is misery on tape, recorded in what feels like a sodden cave beneath a glacier. Black Whisper’s work continues to be elegiac yet savage, and never short of quality. You’d be hard pressed to find something bleaker around at the moment. Great stuff

https://thoseonceloyal.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/review-black-whispers-dusk/

Black Whispers are a band from Costa Rica that has had music reviewed before in this zine and on this recording goes for more of an avant garde style of depressive black metal and this is a review of their 2021 album "Dusk" which was released as a joint effort between Grimm Distribution, More hate Productions and The End Of Time Records.

A very dark sounding intro starts off the album while pianos can also be heard briefly before going into a heavier musical direction. All of the instruments also sound very powerful along with the vocals being mostly high pitched yet depressive black metal screams and the riffs also add in a decent amount of melody.

When guitar solos and leads are utilized they are also done in a very melodic style while spoken word parts can also be heard on a couple of songs. When the music speeds up a decent amount of blast beats can also be heard along with the songs also mixing in a decent amount of avant garde elements.

When tremolo picking is utilized they also give the songs more of a raw feeling along with one of the tracks also introducing acoustic guitars onto the recording and throughout the recording you can also hear a decent mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts as well as some synths also being utilized at times, as the album progresses a brief use of whispered vocals can also be heard. The production sounds very professional while the lyrics cover Negativity, Suicide, Depression and Darkness themes.

In my opinion this is another great sounding recording from Black Whispers and if you are a fan of avant garde and depressive black metal, you should check out this album.

http://occultblackmetalzine.blogspot.com/2021/12/black-whispersduskgrimm.html

Costa Rica band Black Whispers are out with the album "Dusk", and metal is the genre explored here. The specific orientation is black metal, complete with growl style vocals and hard, intense and high tempo passages aplenty. Just as important are slower paced sections with more of an atmospheric laden and dampened mode of intensity however, in addition there are are also occasional delicate interludes that breaks up the more intense metal sections. We get a liberal array of harmony style guitar solo overlays in addition to more cutting guitar solo runs, and a specialty of the band is the use of a prominent and hard bassline that is given a more prominent placement in the mix. A small handful of cinematic horror-inspiring ambient soundscapes throughout the album also merits a mention. A production to seek out by those who like their extreme metal to be explored in a bit more of a dynamic manner.

https://www.facebook.com/wildernessviking/posts/4942635502501443

Este es el tercer disco de la banda oriunda de Costa Rica, si alguien pensó que el DSBM estaba en cierta calma déjenme decirles que no, la banda tiene esa magia de elevar el concepto de su música a través de una interesante experimentación de sondo depresivo y pinceladas Avant Garden, haciendo este trabajo oscuro e interesante, pero sin perder la esencia que los ha caracterizado en sus anteriores trabajos. Regresan para presentar lo que tan celosamente han grabado, se escucha más orientados al depresive con cierto toque de irreverencia y pinceladas técnicas en sus ejecuciones las canciones “Heartaching”, “Dusk” y “Eulogy” son muestra de que la banda seguirá en la misma linea y conciertas innovaciones en la música que les gusta tocar, seguirán posicionados en la escena costarricense por un buen tiempo, sin defraudar a los seguidores que fielmente los han seguido desde sus inicios. El murmullo seguirá siendo negro.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaNg2XmOf1E/

Ninguém diria que os Black Whispers são da Costa Rica ao ouvir este “Dusk”. Isto porque tem uma aura tão negra e tão tradicionalmente (ou melhor dizendo, “escandinavamente”) grim e necro que nos parece mesmo saída da Noruega. Claro que estas primeiras impressões já não querem dizer nada e o local de origem nem é indicador de qualidade nem tão pouco daquilo que se faz. E para clarificar, apesar de ser black metal como manda a lei da segunda vaga, há uma enorme componente melancólica – ou não estivessemos também numa proposta de black metal depressivo – que ajuda a atingir alguns pontos de originalidade em relação à ideia inicial. Sólido e sem entrar em exageros dramáticos, “Dusk” pontua sobretudo pela sua sobriedade.

https://worldofmetalmag.com/wom-reviews-deathspell-omega-aegrus-funeral-mist-black-whispers/

Sin I - Guitar/Bass: Utilizing frozen distorted riffage & raw tremolo picking - a decent amount of melodies/rhythm sections (with additional tempos/added cold synths)

Sin II - Vocals: Inhaling of moaning/sorrowful shrieks

Sin III - Drums: Pounding drumming & drum patterns/blast-beats

Sin IV - Overall: I welcome you all to ‘Black Whispers’ with their third full-length release of approximately forty-four minutes of a runtime of eleven tracks, well nine with the opening and closing tracks, being an intro and outro

Soon as the listener presses that play button, one is welcome to a musical spectrum and compositionally diverse and depressive album which fuses raw black metal and avant-garde/experimental elements – which takes the listener on a sinister, negative, fatalism and death journey into the darkness and the more harrowing feelings of the human condition. Onwards with one’s journey into the darkness and the “Intro” track, which welcomes a channelling atmosphere and dark weeping piano of despair & sorrow -following suit with the second piece “Castle of Selfdestruction” being the first song following the intro track and the remaining nine pieces, where the listener is welcome to the sound of distortion sound of the guitar, evil shrieks/spoken words, while the whole piece and the remaining nine pieces are covered in a frozen veil of depression, hate, dread, and sorrowful atmosphere

At the same time, ‘Black Whispers’ delivers a raw avant-garde depressive black metal with various compositions (where one will find buried within the music) - which include (timely placed together/added at the right moment) multifaceted of tempos/moods, experimental in various sounds fx & instrumentation, (additional) clean (strumming of the) guitar/acoustic riffage, aggression build-ups, slight nodding moments, dark whispers/spoken words, production is done professionally (simultaneously the sound can capture (some taint) raw and depressive with a modern feel) — all topped off with top-notch craftsmanship and musicianship, including music and songwriting

Bringing the listener to the album’s closing, with the ‘Outro’ to spoken word recording (from a horror movie?) and dark atmosphere of the keys (giving the listener a weight of despair, morbid and sorrow)

Sin V - Artwork: While the lyrics cover negativity, suicide, depression & darkness themes - the artwork covers all these topics

Sin VI - Outstanding: The artwork and the avant-garde approach within the music, etc

https://metal1on1.squarespace.com/black-metal/black-whispers