Lychgate – Lychgate (2013)

Delivering a very impressive debut self-titled album, Lychgate combines highly atmospheric music with brutal Black Metal in a very crushing and terrifying way. Featuring tracks form the band’s ‘dormant’ years, this release carves out perfectly songs that are both chilling and very harsh. With over 37 minutes of music, this release is by far one of the best we have reviewed this year when it comes to Atmospheric Black Metal.

Hailing from the UK, the band warms up with “The Inception”, an dense and creepy mood setting intro. When the first track, “Resentment” arrives, the dramatic keyboards/organs create a very bleak and commanding atmosphere, but it is ultimately the riffing that completes the band’s awesome wall of sound. Having elements of bands like Way to End and Nidingr, the band’s sound is hellish and very well constructed.

One of our favorite track is “Against the Paradoxical Guild”, featuring incisive guitar work and a very doomy and ethereal pace. Mixing said passages with crushing blast beats and extremely raw and harsh BM shrieks, the band creates the perfect atmosphere to disturb event the biggest BM fans. Songs like “In Self Ruin” are more traditional and direct, filled with pounding guitars and creepy keyboards. While songs like “Sceptre to Control the World” focus more on building atmosphere and deliver lush instrumental passages that are nicely contrasted by blistering drums and the excellent singing.

After a trippy intermezzo, the band gets ready to pummel their way through tracks like “Triumphalism” and “Dust of a Gun Barrel”, both very atmospheric and filled with mournful vocals and powerful guitar layers. The album’s best track is the extremely catchy “When Scorn Can Scourge No More”. We particularly love the super engaging riffs and very interesting tempo, giving an insight into the band’s musical depth and excellent composition skills.

While not being your average Black Metal release, Lychgate has managed to make a huge statement with their debut release. The band perfectly balances crushing Black Metal passages with very dramatic atmospheric elements to create a truly haunting and devastating sound. Claiming that this release represents their ‘slow’ period, we are very excited to hear how much have they evolved over the years and how far will they take their very dynamic sound. If you like atmospheric BM, there is no excuse for you not buying this excellent release.

Label: Mordgrimm

Release: June 11th, 2013

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: UK