SELENELION

Anytime Toby Driver is associated with a project i'm interested. He's surrounded himself with like-minded musicians from other bands and they've created something that is truly adventerous and experimental. Certainly fans of Toby's earlier projects should check this out. Most of the tracks are around the five minute mark except for the last two which are over seven minutes in length.

"Souvenirs" is a song I have loved from the fiirst time I heard it. It's heavy with vocals and I can just imagine how good this would be to hear live in concert. "Drachma" is heavy on the bass and drums as the atmospheric guitars play over top along with the vocals. We get a calm 2 1/2 minutes in that is quite haunting before it kicks back in. Great track ! "The Emanation" eventually becomes the heaviest song so far and the vocals are passionate and distant sounding. Metal is flying everywhere. "En / Soph" opens with atmosphere and is slow paced until the drums arrive and it starts to pickup some. Vocals around a minute. I really like this as it has this melancholic and gothic flavour to it. Check out the instrumental section 3 minutes in as the guitar and heaviness comes to the fore. Love the guitar playing over top too. Vocals are back before 4 minutes. "Relics" is experimental and dark to start as faint vocals join in around a minute. This continues throughout. "Obsidian Damascene Sun" is intense with pounding drums and tortured guitar as the vocals join in. It becomes more aggressive after 3 minutes after the vocals have stopped, but they don't stop for long as the previous soundscape returns.

"Uncreated Light (Transfiguration)" is one of the more experimental tunes including the vocals. Some cool sounding guitar around 3 minutes then the vocals return. "The Column's Vein" is by far the shortest at 2 1/2 minutes. Sounds pulse and the wind blows in this dark and creepy soundscape. Tortured vocals shout out things. "Vanth" is an unsettling track with vocals. "Selenelion" opens with intricate guitar as relaxed vocals join in. For once they don't sound like they are off in the distance. In fact this track sounds too normal. A change 2 minutes in as the guitar and sound picks up some. "The Zahir" like the title track opens with guitar but it's strummed this time as reserved vocals join in. It kicks in heavily after 2 minutes with distortion. The guitar plays over top after 2 1/2 minutes then the vocals return but they're more passionate. Excellent sound here, in fact along with the opening track this is my co-favourite. It turns almost doom-like 5 minutes in then the guitar takes off as the tempo picks up. So good !

While this is very different from ENSLAVED's "RIITIIR" I have to say these are the two best Metal albums i've heard from 2012.