Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax Review
by Mark Hensch
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True black metal lives on in America. Formed in 1996, Austin, Texas natives Averse Sefira are battle-scarred veterans of the United States Black Metal scene. Now returning with newfound power on fourth full-length album Advent Parallax, Averse Sefira conquers souls with fast and furious black metal.
Immolating listeners with a frantic, buzzing brand of BM recalling the genre's earliest legends, Averse Sefira is well rooted in their collective origins. That is not to say this is retrogressive music however---Averse Sefira also adds some of the otherworldly, hypnotic textures often practiced by bands like Blut Aus Nord or Deathspell Omega. Topped off with a legitimately diabolical vibe worthy of Watain, this is a modern update on the firstborn BM wave.
The galloping "Descension" kicks Averse Parallax off, its thundering riffs dropping alongside a hail of blastbeats like bombs from the sky. Epic tremolo melodies next strafe across ears, tearing them utterly apart. As if this is not enough, the blastbeat marching sections are both grand and decidely retrogressive in tone.
"Sιance in a Warrior's Memory," is one of the best songs on the album. At first it flays with maddeningly precise complexity, only to break down into a shadowy breakdown recalling Blut Aus Nord's MoRT. Freakish and immaterial, this slamming part rears up again and again, stabbing at listeners during multiple barbaric assaults.
"Viral Kinesis" features the vertigo-grooves of Deathspell Omega, but faster and with more audible melody. The song's dull roar gradually picks up speed and angular, hellish chords, collapsing like a black hole in its own spiraling malice.
"Cognition of Rebirth" injects an undercurrent of death metal into the proceedings, the song both blasting and massive in scope. Chilling tremolo melodies trickle like the Styx, adding an atmosphere of biting cold.
"Serpent Recoil" is another highlight, its writhing tremolo melodies suffocating wonderfully flexible percussion. Powerful and windswept, the song is subtle in how easily it grips a listener's throat.
"A Shower of Idols" features Advent Parallax's sickest guitar tones. Earthquake percussion rolls crush everything immediately, preparing the way for noxious, droning riffs that cut and slice.
"Refractions of an Unexplored Singularity" pulses with the malignant energy of Deathspell Omega, its sinister percussion snaking through dark, surreal guitars. When the actual blasting begins, it sounds like the world unraveling.
Out of this intense fury comes closing cut "Vomitorium Angelis." An acidic squall of noise soon shifts hues into soothing hum, only to be dissolved by some of the disc's strongest riffs. Especially interesting here is how Averse Sefira takes their already grotesque riffs and deforms them further, transforming them into something skittering and frightening.
Mesmerizing and dark, Advent Parallax is an album confidently progressing a genre not in leaps but in steps. Slowly but surely, Averse Sefira are redefining black metal without changing any of its core traits. I highly recommend this for older fans or relative newcomers looking for something a bit more recent yet still in the same vein as the 1990s Inner Circle of black metal.
Averse Sefira's Advent Parallax
Descension
Sιance in a Warrior's Memory
Viral Kinesis
Cognition of Rebirth
Serpent Recoil
A Shower of Idols
Refractions of an Unexplored Singularity
Vomitorium Angelis
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Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax Rating:9.0
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