XAEMORA – AT DUSK OF EXISTENCE (Review by Varg The Mighty)

               XAEMORA – AT DUSK OF EXISTENCE

 Following their 2017 debut “Pandemonium’s Ocean”, American symphonic black metal band Xaemora have released this year the EP “At Dusk Of Existence”.
These 5 songs sound like your typical symphonic black metal band from the 90’s who try and copy Emperor with touches of Dissection, packing the music with a lot of keyboards and completely typical vocals, but this is something very interesting to listen in 2020, since nearly every black metal band (including the old ones) now tend to expand their musical style beyond their origins. Contrasting with this tendency, Xaemora keep the sound of an old-school symphonic black metal band.
What seems curious is that with each sound, the concept slowly shifts to a lighter, almost to atmospheric black metal. An also notable part is the solo in the song “From A Western Sky”, which is not something typical in black metal yet it fits perfectly giving a different taste to the EP as a whole.

This is overall a good album, bringing back long forgotten sounds to the genre, yet not giving them the enough strength to resurge and revive the scene. It is also good to hear good, straight-forward black metal from the U.S., where this concept isn’t usually well worked upon (with a few exceptions). This is a recommendable EP for fans of 90’s black metal who want to hear modern bands without a modern sound.

Review by Varg The Mighty