With ‘What Misery Thou Art Fallen’ the duo behind the American Raw Black Metal band Mystic Veil reveal their first offering, a one-track demo with a total playing time of just under 20 minutes.
While both of the musicians are also active in Erstwhile, they opted for a Raw Black Metal approach that is thoroughly melancholic and, frankly, downright depressive. It doesn’t go into the Depressive Black Metal territories, but none of it sounds quite like a bright early spring day. On the contrary, the music drags you through pools of misery with slow and mournful riffs, painful laments and moody synths. Although the pace is quite one-dimensional, the music is far from monotonous. Mostly because of the dynamics found in the riffing and the use of the great and haunting synths. The occasional breaks in the music allows the listener to catch a bit of fresh air. But that never lasts long enough to survive the music’s grip on your feeble existence. It mercilessly drags you back into the depths of its darkness. In all its bleakness it sounds beautifully painful, something that pierces right through the heart of every crestfallen. Those who are attracted to the most melancholic and dark works of early Xasthur or Drowning The Light should take notice.
