![feral howl – atavistic meditations [demo / re-release]](https://www.vm-underground.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Feral-Howl-Atavistic-Meditations-Cover.jpg "Feral Howl – Atavistic Meditations [Demo / Re-Release]")
Info
- Band(s): Feral Howl
- Label(s): Breath Of Pestilence, Night Rhythms Recordings
- Release Format(s): Cassette, CD, Demo
- Release Year: 2023
- Review Date: March 17, 2023
- Author(s): FelixS
Feral Howl is a relatively new Black Metal act from Norway of which quite little is known. It seems to be a one-man act, but that is basically it as far as the information goes. With ‘Atavistic Meditations’, the act released its first recordings last summer, which were reissued on tape by Night Rhythms Recordings towards the end of 2022, and early this year Breath Of Pestilence also released the four tracks on CD.
Although not overly Norwegian sounding, the music of Feral Howl does have some distinct local Black Metal influences which is mostly found in some of those trademarked semi-clean Immortal strumming. Other than that Feral Howl does sound relatively modern, which in this case means that it bears resemblances with the music that typifies the Eisenwald/Nordvis Produktion stables. Basically being a musical balancing act between Atmospheric Black Metal, Raw Black Metal and Folk-tinged Black Metal, a sort of take of the Black Metal genre that seems popularized by quite a slew of bands from Canada, Germany and Sweden. It is to that solid foundation of fairly new bands, who are blowing new life and creativity into the Folky sort of Black Metal territories, that we can now also draw Feral Howl. Lots of tremolo picking, fast drumming, folky melodies and, how could it be otherwise, howling vocals. Yet, while some bands in this particular corner do tend to sound a little dreamy or might be emphasizing the folky parts a bit too much (depending on your personal taste, of course), Feral Howl definitely belongs to the group of bands that keep a steady and fairly upbeat tempo, keeping their Black Metal heart aflame during the full duration of the recordings.
Hot on the heels of ‘Atavistic Meditations’, Feral Howl did release another demo, ‘Doomspells Of The Outer Gods’. That second demo features only Ambient music and will therefore not be features on VM-Underground, but, it makes sense mentioning its existence anyway, but only to point out that ‘Atavistic Meditations’ is purely a great Black Metal demo that is very much worth checking out. So, depending on your musical taste, you can pick either one or both of the band’s work.
The four tracks of ‘Atavistic Meditations’ clock in at just over twenty minutes and do add another creative piece of Black Metal to a this particular subgenre of Black Metal that seems to on the rise. While Feral Howl does have some common ground with a lot of the Atmospheric and Folk induced Black Metal bands of today, they are a bit more riff oriented and do bear some resemblances with a band like Forteresse when it comes to the incorporation of great melodies in combination with quite a speedy approach of the genre. Most definitely recommended.
Breath Of Pestilence
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Night Rhythms Recordings
- Country: USA
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal
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