Artist: Drowning The Light
Country: Australia
Label: Dark Adversary Productions
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
Although you can’t possibly be surprised by Drowning The Light’s Azgorh’s working ethos, he still amazed me when he told me he was working on a set of no less than five albums that was supposed to come out simultaneously. All of those five albums are a part of the same theme and therefor tied to each other on a spiritual level, but can also just work as individual albums. So, here we go with the first chapter of the ‘Conquer Or Serve’-series.
After a soothing intro that combines those typical whistling keyboards, piano and the dreamy female vocals of Strix, one of the regular contributors to Drowning The Light, the band shoots off in a fiery piece of Black Metal. While that intro has much in common with the more smooth sounding Black Metal of the releases from the last couple of years, this track has a remarkable powerful start. Yet, while this first song retains a more expressed role for the guitar it also combines the blueprint of that newer Drowning The Light DNA. And basically, that sets the mood for the rest of the album.
‘Conquer Or Serve I: From Primordial Waters Of Chaos’ is definitely not as raw as ‘Enslaved By The Cave’-EP from 2023 or the more iconic earlier recordings out of the Drowning The Light discography, however, it does offer a bit more “bite” than some of the more recent releases. The combining of a more profound Black Metal foundation and the recognizable mellower parts does work surprisingly well, resulting in something that you could say is the best of both worlds.
Just like life and death, light and darkness… One of both can only be as alluring or terrifying in the presence of the other. In that regard, this first album of the series delivers just that what it is supposed to do. It is a bit of an introspection that offers beauty and chaos, represented by the captivating intermezzo’s of clean guitars, Strix’ vocals and the trademark organs/synths on the one hand and the thrilling Black Metal on the other. Is it to conquer or to serve?
