There is another kind of darkness. A darkness that existed first and will be the last thing to exist. A darkness so bleak, so black, that light itself is absorbed and spat out, adding to its own growing and ever infinite coldness.
For their third full length album, the band still brings funeral doom and long form songs. However, the up in quality to this album from their previous one 'Ashes Coalesce' is greater than the distance between that album had from their debut, "Scars Across." By finding a balance between the two albums, Convocation have easily created their heaviest album to date yet also the one with the most progression.
In small, subtle increments, Convocation has stretched their sound to a much more dynamic nature yet their brand of misery remains as abraded and denuded as ever. In a weird but welcome twist to their sound, it makes their songs even more expansive and open yet also as claustrophobic and death-laden to an almost insane degree.
Organ, violin, cello and choirs are added among quite a few guest stars who all help the duo of LLaaksonen and MNeuman vomit forth a light eating varlet.
'Atychiphobia,' is quite possibly the best song Convocation has written to date. Much like the definition of the word, the song is definitely giving off vibes of nervous energy that builds toward the monumental feeling of doing all you can and still failing. Big things in life aren't always good---you can fail and falterer in grand fashions as well. Around the 2:45 mark, the song very slightly changes direction and turns into a stalking, lumbering carnivore. The drums are insane here, a perfect compliment to the music. Clean, melodic notes touch down over the distortion and it makes the song even more dense, even more layered. A sort of regality in the later half arrives in the form of a sparse, melodic section that bridges the gape between the unknown.
'Between Aether and Land,' is an instrumental that is perfectly placed between the album's two halves. It's intro allows for the briefest of respite but the dawn slowly slips away. A sense of time slips away as the band's unique style takes over the horizon.
'Lepers and Derelicts,' is another one of their best song. This eleven minute doom epic is insane. It has a slow and ominous build up--a classic approach. The riffs are sweltering and the vocals match their intensity as they are straight up ghastly. I love the clean instrumentation and how it fills up the spaces in between--it is a void within a void. The last few minutes of the song are so good----the clean vocals, slow gallop riffs and the pounding drums all coming together make for quite the spectacle. Then the death growls rip through it all, the music both evil and atmospheric as the song settles in for a mighty powerful dirge.
I'm a big fan of Ferum, it is a very nice touch to feature their guitarist/vocalist Samantha doing spoken word/narration on 'Procession.' This track is huge, offering more than some full albums have this year. Of their three albums, this one has the best final track. Everything I like about this band in general, and this album in particular, is represented in this final funeral walk. The viciousness of the vocals that begin around the nine minute mark are astounding. The music is slow, deep, and hard for the perfect foundation.
It is always a risk to release albums in the very beginning or ending of the year as those types have the higher risk of being overlooked as the busy music season winds down. At this time a lot of writers and publications have already published their year end lists or at least made up their minds. They might want to take all that back because Convocation's 'No Dawn for the Caliginous Night' is a late year game changer and a truly perfect example of the genre.
10/10
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