Music review: Negative Plane - Stained Glass Revelations (2011)

Some time since my last review! So, let's resume with another heavy hitter in my heard. Maybe the only US black metal effort I can honestly put on the same stage as the best from genre's homeland, Europe.

Why isn't obvious at the first listen, but little by little, some of the more subtle elements reached my attention until I could tell this was both something special and carefully crafted. Both the content with its strange harmonies or dirge-like passages and the production burying the vocals in the surgically separated instruments (so very like yet unlike shoegaze) and leaning strongly towards brightness (very forward drums, razor sharp guitar leads).

But while the ingredients deserve attention, the whole is again what matters for such a masterpiece. It has such a unique and… well developed sound that really makes the idea of psychedelic black metal actually work in a way that often sounds like its ritualistic looking cover art.

All of the above compounded by the constant back and forth between the frantic segments and the delicate or heavy interludes is such a throwback to the monument that is 666 International that I can't give it any less than 9. Not 10 because its 1 hour clearly contains some redundancy somewhere.