Adorn “Adorn”
If there was something so stunning, so magnificent to behold that it could change someone’s life, or at the very least their perspective, would you keep it a secret? What if there was something hiding; tucked away like a gem waiting to be unearthed from the underground; a new way of imagining Black Metal; of hearing it, not of listening but of hearing. Could there possibly be this duality? Picture if you will the darkest art of Black Metal, but of the heart and thematically pertaining to matters of the heart. Hearts in pulse to the beat of romantic Black Metal…
To romanticize Black Metal is to uncover its hidden capacity for beauty and for ethos. For culture and for sophistication. Be it Black Metal of the classically composed consort, as in what we have here or the unique yet wholesome stylings of, say, US act Wayfarer or Hungary’s Vvilderness. Not innovation, but ingenuity - the ability to create a fresh sound by integrating classic techniques, or by incorporating classic influences into Black Metal; resulting in albums like WitcheR’s Öröklét or the above-mentioned Wayfarer and their latest album, American Gothic. The former is a classically composed recording and the latter is heavily infused with early Western American elements.
And then we have Adorn… A band with a smartly imagined and a well-executed sound: so ethereal, so weightless and soulful like celebrating the survival of a once-dying family member. Somehow realizing for the very first time what actually matters - those life moments of epiphany or one of those random moments when you suddenly realize that everything is going to be okay… Moments like what are shared here in “Secrets of The Heart” - track one of Adorn’s forthcoming self-titled LP, set for a November 7 release via Northern Silence Productions. The way it opens with such delicate majesty, then as it builds while more Black Metal elements are kindled into the fire: what sounds like a modest three-piece strings section, triumphant rhythms and that feeling again… Something more like a heartbreak this time, though; somber and stirring up feelings of mourning, of pale lifeless sunrises - the kind that only depressed people see. Angelic chorales throughout the recording do provide an experience that is as uplifting during other parts as it can be melancholy. But it’s in those soft Post-Black Metal moments; those parts when only the guitar and the piano mingle in cuts like track number two - “When Time Stood Still” that somehow create more than just a vibe, but that goosebumps-inducing melodic energy. I think “divine” is most definitely the adjective.
Man, some people are going to hate this album… Personally, I think you’d have to be an artless Neanderthal to not appreciate Adorn. Or to not admire the brilliant synergy between the violins and the up-tempo’d drums during the riffed out “Tudor Garden”. An epic orchestra of music that you hear when you’re dying Black Metal. For deep thought - heavy contemplation - weighing things out on scales of perdition. There’s an almost maddening sort of melancholy during some parts of the record that feel as if you’re locked in one of those life-shifting moments of holy shit. One of the bad ones: jail sentence, health prognosis or wife leaving you type of vibes.
The way the bass line just rolls so smoothly underneath a warm blanket of melody, and when this thing hits, it’s with the joy of seeing an old friend or the sorrow of losing him. This is Black Metal for your life’s journey, for those hard-earned minutes & hours along the way and for the romance of the moment. Filling you, fulfilling you in the way that only Black Metal can. Enriching your state of being in the way that only art is capable of. For these moments, we relinquish ourselves over to the will of the song, to its undeniable grace and to its beauty.
Adorn - not for everyone. Not for the Temple of Watain Disciple or for the Gorgoroth Pentagram fanatic, but for the connoisseur. For those of us who understand that something as meaningful as Black Metal is bound to evolve and that Black Metal’s capacity for beauty should never be overlooked in the name of genre conservation. True Black Metal is important! But so is this. So is romance! And so is the moment. With their self-titled record, Adorn has created a soundtrack to liberating, youthful Summer afternoons and cozy, sacred Winter nights. One for life! One for the heart. Gorgeous take on Black Metal.
SCORE: 9 / 10
You can purchase Adorn on the band’s Bandcamp.
