Artist: Drowning The Light
Country: Australia
Label: Dark Adversary Productions
Formats: CD EP
Year: 2025
After the monumental achievement of releasing no less than five full-length albums at once, Azghor again found some spare time to record a new EP, entitled ‘Viscera Of The Gods’, released on his own label, Dark Adversary Productions. As with the majority of his last few EP’s, this one too is only clocking in around fifteen minutes. A rather short affair, compared to the monster project that was the ‘Conquer Or Serve…’.
On a musical level, ‘Viscera Of The Gods’ is, for the most part, a continuation of what Drowning The Light has been doing for the last few years. In my previous reviews I often referred to the band’s recent sound as being ‘mellower’ compared to the older material, or even dreamy and smooth. That is also the case on this new EP, that comprises two tracks of which only the first one can be filed under “Black Metal”. Still, that one song, the title track, with a total playing time of almost twelve minutes, has a slightly bigger sense of urgency in the main riff. Right from the opening seconds, that feeling is present and is particularly fuelled by a slightly grittier guitar sound. But when the song approaches the one-minute mark, the lead melody kicks in, giving the whole thing the mellower edge that characterizes the band’s latest material. A harsh critic might argue that ‘Viscera Of The Gods’ is nothing more than “more of the same.” And in fact, it’s hard to argue with that, but on the other hand, Azghor, unlike many other over-productive musicians, always delivers quality material.
The last five minutes of the EP are filled with dreamy, filmic, synthesizers. It is well known that Azghor has a penchant for classical ambient music, and given the title of this track, ‘Sinister Visions Within The Smoke’, he undoubtedly has a deeper meaning in mind. For the average listener, however, it will mainly feel like a (somewhat superfluous) outro.
