Castevet
Obsian

I must be crazy, or maybe young, or maybe just a fool. God only knows how many times I've experienced inner conflicts, how many times I've felt the need to scream until I turn purple, the need to transcend, to sublimate... sometimes I slap myself, throw massive punches at the paper-thin walls of my house, roll down the stairs gnashing my teeth... It must be that in this period, with this weather, where it's pouring rain, windy, water streaming from my bones, I want to stay home. And yes, winter is a time for certain activities: reading a good book, making hot chocolate, creating in front of the fireplace... yet, if I don't go out and blow off some steam, with this inner fire worse than gastritis, I become like this: unbalanced. And so I need albums that keep me company.

So, "Obsian", in the end, keeps you company. The second release from New Yorkers Castevet, released by Profound Lore, is a splendid work for sophisticated tastes and those in need of sublimation. Avantgarde-Metal.com describes it as "white light covering a plane of black metal". I, however, when I listen to "Obsian", sometimes feel like I'm swimming, floating. Not like The Dude, of course, and not towards that icy expanse or star or flake or whatever it is. I move INSIDE that thing; it's like falling, sinking in a spiral motion. And the deeper you go, the more calm (still in the vortex) you find: from "The Tower", which vaguely reminded me of mid-90s Death in a blackened version, to "Obsian", a sort of "Acrid Placidity", and to "The Seat of Severance", with its diaphanous baritone chants (courtesy of Nick Podgurski). Does it seem like a contradiction? So be it. Sometimes music surpasses logic.

A rather short album - around 35 minutes - but incredibly rich, full of motifs, suggestions, changes of direction. It's got everything I desire. There are moments reminiscent of Godflesh, others that hint at Blut Aus Nord, math elements as sudden as they are crazy (the ending of "Cavernous", for example), a bit of ambient that always feels right, absurd drum patterns, nods to post-hardcore, and the "edginess" and acridness (though contained) that ensures a black metal undertone that always peeks through. All perfectly arranged not randomly, but in a way that never bores and actually enhances the listening experience. Formally divided into six tracks, "Obsian" is in fact a single journey that you should let yourself be embraced by and tackled. An album certainly complex, labyrinthine, but precisely for this reason, it communicates something new each time. If in the debut "Mounds of Ash" good things were already visible, here there's plenty to savor. Give it a try.