EtherIf you look up self-indulgent in the dictionary, you will find ‘e.g. one man black metal bands ‘. But hang on, think about this for a moment; who do you want them to ‘indulge’? Commercial interests? The mainstream? You? Or do you actually want them to ‘indulge ‘ their internal muse, create the music they yearn to create, and then present it to the world heedless of anything but that voice inside them for all its good, bad, inspired or eccentric advice? Yeah, thought so.

So it is with Ether’s second album. Quebecois musician Scythrawl is behind this monumental work and it simply blazes personal vision. Split into six lengthy tracks and around ninety minutes of music, this is kind of daunting to receive as a single work but opening track ‘Failure’ makes your entrance into their world strangely accessible for any black metal fan; bleak, harsh treble heavy fast riffing with strained, crying vocals dragging you in by your hair. It is a well executed, traditional sound with plenty of that cold edge and bitter melody in its folds and the familiarity aids it no end as there is no disorientation and you realise quickly that you are on a singular, if long, journey.

The journey throughout these tracks expands, meanders and drifts as well as drives. Gentle spoken word parts, in English, with the lilting melancholy of a piano bringing to mind a little Goatcraft, press in here and there. Oh how I wish I could see all the filthy humans die being the sentiment whispered in regret but with a real depth of cold, hard feeling. Depressive, epic and focused its blizzard like journey and sure steps make this terrific and emotional mood music. It cuts out the outside world and forces you to either ponder your own shortcomings or follow the terrain of thought that Scythrawl lays out for you. Abstract linking passages are fused into the while, expertly with no jarring change or sudden switch, again keeping this world whole, intact, eyes turned towards what it wants you to see. Occasionally we get hints of radio sounds, the half heard fiddle I associate with many Quebecois black metal bands, but whether this fits easily with that grouping I am unsure. The sound and the feel, though, is pure black metal. It has its own eyes, its own mind and though expansive and epic it never drifts towards the fatal post-rock shallows of mediocrity.

I’ve been writing fiction to this for the past week and a half, only this. I have no idea about what has come out other than, musically, this was a profoundly enabling piece of music, music as muse. It sweeps away the world around you and from there offers you the choice: Listen to the vision of Ether, or create your own world within its cold, misty borders. The choice is yours.

Not ground-breaking, not a sound apart. But a personal vision, executed with the passion and determination and talent that seems to be the hallmark of the Quebec scene; that has to be worth your time, yeah? Indulge yourself.

(7.5/10 Gizmo)

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