Label- Season of Mist
Release Date- 27th January 2023
Words- Tony Bliss
There is little arguing that in recent years the black metal blueprint has been embellished, mutated and adapted more than most. In a world where everything seems transformational and boundary-hopping, it is easy to overlook the relatively unfiltered, bombastic thrill of a band like …And Oceans. Indeed, an eighteen-year hiatus may have hindered their popularity somewhat (they returned in 2020 with comeback record Cosmic World Mother), however, these Finns are now squarely back in the game and conjuring some of the most stirring and spectacular symphonic black metal anthems of their career.
Make no mistake although, ‘As In Gardens, So in Tombs’ is not without its bells and whistles. The opening title track erupts like ‘Cruelty And The Beast’ era Cradle Of Filth, all pitless hell-blasting and orchestral drama establishing a handy template of what’s to come (a bizarre mid-song interlude notwithstanding). Highlights are numerous - be it ‘The Collector And His Construct’ with its sumptuous sugar-rush of guitar-driven melody, recent single ‘Cloud Heads’ which is equal parts wind-swept black metal magic and synth/key led abundance, and album highlight ‘Inverse Magnification Matrix’, a Dimmu-esque ripper which pushes the sonic theatrics firmly into the red - yet as much as these cuts dare to stray slightly from the ice-adorned path, it is also true that every second of As In Gardens…is unwaveringly tethered to the immortal art of memorable black metal songwriting.
Consequently, fans of this stuff may not hear much they haven’t heard before, but with twelve songs as consistently brilliant as these soaring and snarling mini-epics, the fact that this is a simply bigger and bolder interpretation of a time-honoured, black metal template seems more a selling point than a stumbling block, such is the amount of atmosphere, riffs and shriek at the moon hooks. There may be hidden depths to explore, but the best way to enjoy As In Gardens… is to simply let the surging power of extreme metal exert its dominance, fist in air. You’ll probably want to bang your head a helluva’ lot too.
8/10
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