Caïna

The boundaries of black metal are shifting on an almost daily basis and part of the reason for this are artists like Caïna breaking away from the scene’s paradigm and creating something new with the defining characteristics. With each album, Andrew Curtis Brignell has moved closer to the spectrum of pop music and after the devastating beauty of last year’s Mourner, he has created his genre-bending masterpiece. Temporary Antennae is awe-inspiring to say the least. Caïna follows no certain path, beginning with a brief doom intro before the proceedings unfurl into a blizzard of cavernous tremolo. The cloud of smoke obscures for a brief period but halfway through Brignell throws a wrench into things with "Larval Door,” a Cure-like pop oddity filled with simple guitar and keyboard riffs that eventually succumbs to a zenith of despair. Immediately after, instrumental "…And Ivy Wound Round Him” assumes the posture of Slowdive, falling knee-deep into ambient guitar swells and dreamy splendour. Brignell doesn’t lose track of his vision, constantly keeping his roots close every other number, but his fondness for Mark Kozelek’s acoustic solemnity gets the best of him on "Petals and Bloodbowls”; it’s an influence I expect to hear more of from the Red House Painters fan, especially because he’s so successful at it. Who knows how "black” Caïna will be five years down the road but considering the passion Brignell works into his music, you can bet it will be nothing short of breathtaking.