Since forming in Cork, Ireland in 2006, the intelligent, expansive ambient black metal quartet Altar Of Plagues have put the EP form to good use: 2007’s Through The Cracks Of The Earth, 2008’s Sol, and especially 2010’s Tides (my No. 2 EP of the year) are some of the strongest extreme metal short-players of the past few years.
The band’s given to epic song constructions, of course, and it’s satisfying watching them spread their wings and go for something more sustained. Their full-length debut White Tomb was a 2009 standout; things come together even more remarkably on this new LP, Mammal, their most blisteringly dark, but also experimentally compelling, patient, and above-all majestic collection to date.
Vocalist/guitarist James Kelly has said Mammal’s about death, but despite the album’s dark atmosphere, lyrics like “the brother, the mother, the sister and the son / all of them are gone,” the title’s suggestion/realization that we really are just base animals, and the fact that my own loved ones have been dropping like flies, this is powerfully life-affirming music. Even as it eviscerate. See, for instance, the bracing 12-minute standout ‘Feather And Bone.’ Listen HERE!
Mammal is out 5/17 via Profound Lore. That’s not the final artwork, it’s a detail from Timo Ketola’s work-in-progress.
Continue reading: Altar Of Plagues – “Feather And Bone” (Stereogum Premiere) – Stereogum.
Tags: altar of plagues, Brandon Stosuy, Mammal, Stereogum
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