Published: May 19, 2020 

This is the third album from US black metallers Feral Light.

Feral Light play a mix of black metal and post-metal, with touches of doom and hard rock. Life Vapor offers up 39 minutes of easily-digested blackness.

The band aren’t short of riffs, frequently adopting a black ‘n’ roll approach. It’s surprisingly catchy stuff, and Feral Light clearly know how to write a good song. Merged with the atmosphere of post-metal and the blackened bite of the second wave, Life Vapor is an easy album to get on board with.

A combination of grim dissonance, melodic appeal, and the aforementioned riffs work to make the songs enjoyably approachable. They’re well-written and contain plenty to hook the listener quite firmly. All of the tracks are 5+ minutes in length; the band use the duration wisely, letting the songs breathe into their spaces, while reining them in if they threaten to become unfocused.

I enjoyed this a lot. It packs a lot of meaty content into 39 minutes, both of the instant appeal variety, and the slower burning atmospheric kind. if you’re a fan of blackened, hooked metallic darkness, then Life Vapor is one to check out, and makes an addictive listen.