To those who have not been privy to Cormorant, they like to contort black metal with progressive and folk trappings. However, that’s not even a quarter of the depth the band have on Dwellings. Each song is not only a part of a greater theme, but a mini-epic with a separate agenda. A song could be five minutes long, or twice that length, and the band makes it come off as a grand musical procession.
What Cormorant does exceptionally well is telling a story through both words and music. “A Howling Dust” is a heartbreaking tale of racism and bigotry, played through with bitterness by the four members. The tempos always move around the lyrics, picking up when the violence begins on “Junta,” and letting out a gust of airy guitars on the spacey “Unearthly Dreamings.”
Bassist/vocalist Arthur von Nagel has a nasty rasp to his voice that seem to have only gotten rougher in the two years between albums. Occasional clean vocals bring out a lighter side, and the rest of the band accompanies Nagel with suitable vocal harmonies. With very accomplished musicians involved, Dwellings is stacked with fantastic guitar solos (especially on “Unearthly Dreamings” and “Funambulist”) and a fluid rhythm duo capable of sticking with the guitarists, even through the most treacherous of soundscapes.
Dwellings is a late surprise for 2011, a magnificent album that puts stock into how successful Cormorant can be. Passion for music replaces a need for financial gain, and this drive makes for music required to be digested over the course of days, not hours. Headphones are the way to go, as there’s so much going on in each song that regular speakers can’t pick it all up. Cormorant has no distinct genre trappings, and this freedom has instilled a sense of wonderment on Dwellings.
(self-released on December 6, 2011)
