A pale-faced figure has emerged from the white noise and television static realm of depressive Black Metal. This cold-blooded crestfallen entity is the personification of this split release. Given creative life via Wisconsin’s Post-Black Metal outfit Shoregraves who have formed a union for this collaborative effort with Buenos Aires’ Moonveil, a band that plays emotionally saturated and shimmering contemporary Black Metal. This split, which is entitled ‘Moonshore’ features four tracks, two of which are by either artist.
The initial two songs are handled by Shoregraves. The first being ‘Wandered’, featuring vocals performed with powerful, high-pitched and emotionally stirring shrieks. The driving, hazy Post-Black instrumentation of the piece paints a contemplative instrumental bedrock that complements the intense and sorrowful vox. Additional lead guitars appear later in the track within a similar tonal range to the vocals, and this serves to bolster the impact of the song’s final moments. Track two ‘Marrow’ opens to a much more deranged and mentally-strained sounding dirge. The mood of the track feels less Post-Black than its predecessor, and it drifts towards the sort of anti-human, morbid high-drama that is akin to a Leviathan track.
Moonveil’s portion of the listening experience begins with the track ‘My Rope’. The song has a certain aurora borealis-like shimmer with its tremolo-picked hasty lead guitar progression. The bass within the song drives the transitions for all of the other instrumentation to converge on various pretty and bittersweet-sounding audible vistas. There is also an interesting addition of some subtle birdsong that plays between each track on this split, and I find it adds a minor touch of tasty atmosphere to the release. The record closes on ‘For a Dead Dog I Saw at the Side of the Road’. Moonveil’s Post-Black guitars reappear in full force during the short opening, before the six-string tide dies down in order to reestablish itself anew. The birdsong becomes present once again in a brief moment of instrumental silence, but the chirps are drowned once the track progresses. With more intensity and a hastier pace than before, the track indulges in some final epic and aesthetically pleasing revelry.
Whilst only twenty-one minutes in length. Moonshore is a very good split release by two artists whose sounds are a wonderful complement to one another. This is a garment of Depressive Black Metal that has been tastefully washed in a post-blackened dye. If you seek a record that is simultaneously soothing and intense, then this release may just pique your interest.
