Angrenost is a black metal band from Portugal. Despite their additional symphonic and ambient synth touches, I would definitely call them black metal, as this is no pseudo-atmospheric cheese, but rather visionary and inspired.

The demo starts with "Inside the Starlight Tunnel". The track is doomy, echoing ambience with a distinct feel of movement. For a listener unfamiliar with ambient music it might be "just an intro", but for me it sets the stage. Astral void. The first song, "Cosmic Journey at the Night Skies". Angrenost has been compared to old Emperor and yes, I am reminded of "In the Nightside Eclipse" by the muddled, unclear, distorted, *evil* guitar work contrasting with epic classical synth-played strings joining in for chorus, to create freedom in the movement between the abyssal pits and the infinite star-cosmos. This is slower, when compared to Emperor. It makes the music more contemplative and more personal… less brutal. Less focused on hate, more focused on spirit, movement, chaos. The third song, "Timeless", is a synth piece again. It is beautiful if the listener can appreciate the vast expanses of the nightsky, lit by the stars and darkened by the voidic space between these objects of flame and mystery. The fourth song, "Twilight Portal", is a black metal song, yet slower… I would call it mid-paced. The vocals are evil screams that could have been ripped out of Ihsahn’s throat (back when he used to be EVIL), except lower and less hysterical. The song experiments with the keyboards more extensively, incorporating industrial/isolationist/ambient influences producing an intriguing trance like weaving motion between the harsh metal and the empty, yet expressive energies of the inorganic synth samples. "Eternal Silence" concludes the demo with a peaceful, descending repeated melody, spiraling to oblivion.

contact : kosmosis@mail.telepac.pt

© 1999 black hate