OHEň HOřÍ TAM, KDE PADL

KOSTNATĚNÍ is the one-man band of Dillon Lyons better known as D.L. who has played in Glass Shrine, Hornet Murmuration, The Outer Rim and Voidbringer. This project which means something to do with "bone" in the Czech language features D.L. channeling his inner Deathspell Omega styled progressively infused black metal only set to Turkish musical scales. The results are fascinating and nuanced and offers a competent black metal experience in the growing world of Deathspell Omega inspired acts.

"Oheň hoří tam, kde padl" which is Czech for "The fire burns where it fell" is D.L.'s third release as KOSTNATĚNÍ following his debut EP in 2018 and the so-far only full-length "Hrůza zvítězí" from 2019. This short but caustically sweet experience features only three tracks that steal 19 minutes of your life energy but oh what fun it is to be suffocated by such sonic renderings. This is the kind of DSO inspired orotundity that delivers all of those ominous dissonant microtonal yet existential moments of proggy black metal ferocity and then fortifies them with the ancient pacifying sounds of traditional Turkish folk music.

Extreme black metal mixed with traditional folk music is nothing new under the sun but when integrated together competently can be utterly brilliant and KOSTNATĚNÍ has indeed not only mastered the art of the most brutal aspects of technical black metal but the sensual musical approach of Turkish folk sounds. This isn't one of those Secret Chiefs 3 inspired projects that adopts traditional musical instruments from other cultures. No way. This is a brutal black metal release that just happens to forge all that chaotic causticity into a Turkish musical procession. Sort of like what BaK is to classic heavy metal with its Middle Eastern folk sounds, KOSTNATĚNÍ has proved that there are many other metal hybridization possibilities to be found.

All in all this is an extremely interesting example of ethnically infused black folk metal at its finest. There is no compromise in the black metal department as D.L. has mastered the art of DSO's jangled guitar fueled tech black metal perfectly and the added elements of the timeless sounds of Turkish folk found in the mix offer a bizarre clash of two disparate titans. This is the kind of gem that immediately makes me want to track down the other releases because it's just that appealing. While folk metal can become a bit cheesy if overdone, the Turkish folk elements are more subtle than domineering. This is a brutal black metal release through and through.