Published: October 16, 2017

Part of the effectiveness and fun of discovering split releases is the fact that the listener may be familiar with one artist but not the other, but then subsequently become a new fan of that other band.  Today’s offering was brought to my attention having been a huge fan of Chiral but knowing nothing of Ah Ciliz.

From Hypnotic Dirge: ”

Ah Ciliz in track 1, “Cascadia” shows a bit of blending of old 2nd wave black metal style but with a bit more melody leaning toward 3rd wave.  So, we’ll call this wave 2.5 I guess.  Anyway, right away Ah Ciliz gives a very cold, yet reflective and nearly uplifting feel.  Track 2, “Moonlight In Night Season” is a very nice acoustic-based instrumental with old school synth creating a bit of a lonely, reflective vibe.  One interesting element of Ah Ciliz is the slight feeling of using a natural field recording with the wind and nature sounds.  “People of the Stars,” track 3, also has a very cold, atmospheric feel yet is fairly nostalgic and even uplifting.  This one also belongs somewhere between the coldness of 2nd wave black metal and 3rd wave (i.e. Alcest, Autumn for Crippled Children, etc.) without so much of the washed-out ethereal element.

This brings us to Chiral.  We already know it’s going to be good.  That is already expected.  But what seems to be going on here is a departure from previous works where Chiral started of with simplistic structures and then built upon them until the strength heightened later in the pieces.  Now, he’s straight and to the point.  This is apparent in Chiral’s first track, “A Feeble Glare of Autumn” and  the second, “Queen of the Setting Sun.”  In the case of “Queen of the Setting Sun,” we hear a bit of a complex piece mixing elements of Chiral’s melodic style with some breaks, key changes and a few moments of slight purposeful discord with the guitar harmonies.  At around the 8 minute mark, the track turns into a synth-guided piece and then develops to the trademark Chiral melodic and uplifting black metal assault with some key breaks in there… a great way to finish off the release.

Both of these bands clearly belong on this release – maintaining their own identity but yet with enough diversity to win over fans who might not be familiar with one or the other… this reviewer included.