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Twilight: Twilight

05/07/11 || Khlysty

Last year, Twilight’s “Monument To Time End” woulda been my numero uno best metal record for 2010, if not for Deathspell Omega’s meisterwerk, “Paracletus”. So, I think that it’s fitting to review here the band’s (well, not exactly “band”…) first foray into the wooly world of desperate black metal. As one can see in my review of “Monument…” Twilight of today has little relation to Twilight of yore: actually, from their first configuration, only the core of N. Imperial (Krieg’s Neill Jameson), Azentrius (Nachtmystium’s Blake Judd) and Wrest (Leviathan’s Jef Whitehead) remains, while former partners in crime Malefic (Xasthur’s Scott Conner) and Hildolf (Draugar’s Tim Lehi) have left the building.

Anyway, back in 2005 those USBM luminaries gathered together (in a very lose fashion) and decided to show them Norsk counterparts in ze art of black metal how things are done. Actually, for the most part “Twilight” sounds like a tribute to Scandinavia’s original purveyors of the genre, down to the lo-fi production values and basic characteristics of black metal (tremolo-picked, upper-register guitars, wall-to-wall blasting, shrieked vocals, the works…). But, this being created by Americans, and this being created by people who, back then, supposedly played “suicidal black metal”, the record has a lot of quirks up its sleeve, that make it a very interesting (or very blasphemous, depending on your belief in tr00, kvlt grvm bullshit…) listening experience.

For example, instead of going for the “constant chaos” that characterizes most of their trad black metal brethren, Twilight don’t shy away from stylistic detours into slower, more “ambient” approaches (listen, for example, to the suicidal/martial dirge of “Larval Liaise”, with Maliefic’s desperate howls overlaying the crisp guitars and tasteful keys, or “Beyond Light“’s melodic line and slow ¾ rhythm). Elsewhere, the band goes for thrashy stutter-rock, that’s almost catchy, even when if incorporates blasting (“Exact Agony, Take Life”), or completely foregoes black metal (except for the vocals) and goes for total ambience (“Winter Before”). Of course, when Twilight decides to blast off, it does so with command and power, while never forfeiting its experimental tendencies (“As The March Of Worms”), or it just goes for total atonal chaos (“Woe Is The Contagion”).

Generally, “Twilight”, for all its black metal trappings, is quite a diverse record that offers a lot to be admired and enjoyed to anyone with even a passing interest to the genre. And, even though the record was made using non-traditional techniques (supposedly, Malefic just mailed his parts, while the record was finalized and mixed by Azentrius, Wrest and Imperial in Chicago), its overall sound and atmosphere is very uniform, as if those five guys spend quite some time together in a studio, re-working and re-recording each song, until it took its final form. So, the bottom line here is that, while the newest configuration of Twilight is a much more interesting and impressive outfit, this first record of theirs is a surprisingly listenable and enjoyable affair, that should satisfy every fan of black metal.

Information
Released: 2005
Label: Southern Lord Records
Website: Twilight MySpace
Band
Wrest: drums, guitar, bass, keyboards
Azentrius: guitar, bass, vocals
Imperial: vocals, bass
Hildolf: vocals, guitars
Malefic: vocals, guitars, keyboards

Tracklist
01. Woe is the contagion
02. Exact agony, take life
03. Larval liaise
04. As the march of worms
05. Winter before
06. White fire under black text
07. Hopeless etheride
08. Swollen voices in silence
09. Beyond light (beautiful and malignant)

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