Numenorean

Home

BY Jason DeavillePublished Jul 22, 2016

7
With the recent demise of Agalloch, are we teetering on the edge of a post post-black metal age? It came as a shock to learn recently that it's been just over 14 years since the kings of post-whatever/shoegaze released their stellar Mantle album, and it sometimes seems like, with the exception of bands with coiffed beards/haircuts and skinny jeans, there are fewer legit bands joining the blackened fold.
 
One of the more recent to enlist, though, is Calgary's Numenorean, whose debut full-length, Home, kicks things old-school, reaching across the Atlantic and digging into the European approach of post-black/shoegaze. Home has the influence of one Stéphane Paut, a.k.a. Neige, all over it, and that's a good thing. More specifically, Home does what bands such as Alcest, Amesoeurs and Lantlôs did best, sounding how the follow-up to Lantlôs impeccable .neon album should have sounded. Like that album, Home filled to the brim with smooth, smoky, jazz club-meets-black metal riffage — pull out your snazziest suit, as this is classy.
 
That's not to say there aren't downright dark, suffocating, glacial-like moments a la Burzum here; think Varg Vikernes in his best '40s era gangsta attire at the foot of a church with match in hand.
(Season of Mist)

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