Soulbun’s Earthless Pagan Spirit (Century Media) is a solid mix of different kinds of darkness. The doom/black metal outfit blends the elements of both sub-genres throughout the record, making for terrific moments of depth and whiplashing speed. Certain songs stick to more of a mentality than playing around with sounds, but at times there is a balance between the two styles. Typically, the structure is the same where the beginning will start out one way, play its way to another, just to end where it began. The structure never becomes too much however, and up until the very end, Earthless Pagan Spirit never loses momentum.
“Where Splendid Corpses Are Towering Towards The Sun” makes for a solid opening (and one hell of a mouthful). It starts off with powerful drumming and driving melody. By the halfway point things begin to mellow out, and our first taste of groove is introduced. There is light shredding just underneath it which adds a strong haunting effect with the vocals. Listener’s will notice the use of groove when it comes to accompanying the more driving tracks, and then how it works with songs that drone on. It is great to have these two differing aspects of groove, since they help the album from never becoming monotonous. The strength in the record is certainly the guitars; while every other part of the band is well done, it is really with both guitars that the variety in sounds is found to keep the audience listening. The occult themes are playful and easy to hook the listener in for a good time, while the drumming does a good job alternating with tempo.
Tracks “The Blood Ascendant” and “Howling At The Heart Of Death” are two strong examples of when the album shifts away from the focus in speed, leaning towards the doom aspects. The former contains longer notes, chugs, and slower, deeper vocals; whereas the latter begins with a thick drone, just to shift almost halfway back to the traditional speed found earlier (transitioning and ending on the drone). There are songs such as “Withering Nights” that decide to stick more towards the speedier end of a black metal fashion from start to finish, which help deviate from an overwhelming sense of droning. This also works vice versa for the doom parts, and how they help for things to not just be constant pummeling.
The only let down is the actual ending track “Diary Of A Reaper”. It is a simple spoken word and light instrumental that stutters the drive and power that the audience has been part of up until it. More jarring than dark and mysterious, it would have made a hell of a lot more sense to include this either somewhere in the middle to break up songs, or right at the beginning before everything goes full force.
Other than the ending, this is a great work for fans looking for music that captures a blackened essence. The occult themes, style, and composition of Earthless Pagan Spirit will make doom and black metal fans pleased as they head bang along. While remaining true to these styles, everything feels fresh and never overused. It is with thanks to strong composition from all band members (especially with the guitars), that Soulburn have made a solid record to enjoy.
Score: 8/10
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