Rift

The Eyes of the Basilisk

Goatwarex 2007

Another in a recent spate of Australian projects being unleashed by Goatwarex and all circling around the central band of Pestilential Shadows.  All seem to be of a high quality and the musicians involved seem to be in a creative peak.  Rift is a moody and atmospheric black metal band that concentrates on atmospheres and emotion.  To achieve this a lot of ambient sound elements are incorporated within the flow of each song and a heavy dose of Brave Murder Day era Katatonia is run through a Burzum blender. (strike that, a Concrete mixer as a blender would imply an element of speed)  But these influences don't really come to the forefront until the third track Versipellis which starts off with the same tone and somber repetitive riffing that reminds me of the Katatonia track Endtime.  However this is not really a Katatonia clone as there are many other elements involved such as the speedy Nordic inspired black metal that expands the sound range into epic ferocity encased in stillborn sorrow.  The actual composition that evokes the strongest emotion in me is Conjunction with its strained and discordant guitar warblings that slowly crawl from the fuzzed out nether regions of Satan's eternal sorrow.  The Spirit of my Blood Laments struggles through more mournful notes of emptiness and desolation that recalls Katatonia at their most effective.  And my skin crawls when that gurgling effects laden vocals bubbles up through the calmest parts of the song.  I wish Balam had used a real drummer for this release though as the drum machine robs some of the emotion with that distracting and tinny cymbal hit.  This release is either long for an EP or short for an album at 27 minutes.  Rift is a well honed marriage of black metal's most ibex colored hatred and obscurity with the tearful emotions of doom metal's inner sadness.  Balam has then intermingled this hybrid form with darkened sonic textures to create some very moving and languor inducing music.  It is nearly impossible to escape the coma of melancholy that sweeps over you when listening to The Eyes of the Basilisk.