Artist: Eternal Ice / Yūrei
Country: Japan / Greece
Label: Menschenfeind Propaganda
Formats: Split Cassette
Year: 2025
Eternal Ice from Nagano, Japan wastes no time. This split tape with Yūrei is one of their five releases this year and second one that sees the light of day through Germany’s Menschenfeind Propaganda, next to the band’s split tape with Spiralen. Despite Greece’s Yūrei having been around for about as long (or short), this anonymous entity has “only” released a demo tape that saw daylight in April of this year via the Ukrainian Depressive Illusions Records label. Anyone who has heard either one of these bands will know that there is some rather raw and uncompromising Black Metal is coming their way…
Eternal Ice starts off and offers a short intro and two new tracks, both of which seem to be written and recorded in the same take as the tracks used for the split tape with Spiralen as they sound very similar in both musical content and in terms of productional values. Consequently this means that these tracks too have a rather catchy propulsive drive to them with the most prominent role for the loud vocals. Yet, the riff-heavy compositions do have enough to offer in terms of earworming power and their quite melancholic character. Therefor a certain comparison with the trademark Finnish brand of Black Metal doesn’t feel too far-fetched.
Although Yūrei is a Greek band, they opted for a Japanese band name. For those not in the knowing, a yūrei is a ghostly figure dressed in white with long black hair and paralysed arms. In popular culture the girl in The Ring (or Ringu) is probably the most well-known yūrei. On a musical level, this anonymous Greek band doesn’t feel too far removed from a musical equivalent of such a long black haired spirit, a deceased soul enable to find peace after death. A much thinner sound (compared to Eternal Ice) is adding much to the overall ghostly experience that mostly reminds of Drowning The Light. Not only in the rather dreamy melodies, but also in the repetitive riffs and the harsh production. Even the vocals are not unlike Azgorh’s in his early Drowning The Light years. Maybe not yet on par with the Australian giant, still, with ‘Demo I’ and this split tape Yūrei certainly delivers a solid start.
