Published: March 19, 2019 

Things from the Canadian publishing house Hypnotic Dirge Records I liked quite a while. Gradually, however, the taste has fallen, and recently, the newly released recordings of this otherwise rather sympathetic company I only rarely listen. I decided to fix it at least a bit through the debut "Wijde wijdte" of the Dutch project Omgeving . The genre box of post-black / doom metal looks quite repulsive, but the albums seemed pretty good to me, so I finally tried.

Dutch musician Franck Johanson is behind Omgeving , who has been working in a bunch of local bands. Probably the best-known name will be Thrashovka Distillator , which has two albums on it, but I can't tell if I actually heard the name somewhere, or I only know it because it's so common and interchangeable, because every second thrashmetal gang. Otherwise, they are the same unknown formations whose appointment does not need to be delayed. Those interested can surely find Metal Archives and see for themselves.

The musical direction of Omgeving has already been suggested above. Fortunately, however, I can add that although there are also elements typical of modern post-black metal, it is not a black-eye cream, and you have to think about the taste, mental health and sexual orientation of the authors. "Wijde wijdte" is not such a tasteless cesspool.

In fact, "Wijde wijdte" surprised me at the first hearing . All the melodies sounded nice enough to me and I could also talk about the atmosphere, which was not so impressive, but a certain charisma radiated from the beginning. So there was satisfaction…

However, this is not the case. The first impression is one thing, but the quality of any album can be judged with greater consideration, which does not come before more listening. And in the discipline of durability, "Wijde wijdte" was no longer convinced as it seemed at first.

In other words, with the passage of time "Wijde wijdte" weakens in a few passages. Many motifs have gone through quite quickly and have become gray. The first part of the recording, namely "Ouverture 2015" or "Zwaartekracht bestaat hier niet" , partly  "Daar waar de tijd smelt" , fights most with this ailment , although there are also times when stricter standards can be applied.

Paradoxically, the strongest is the album in moments that are not so strictly metallic and play an "ambient" tinge, even though it is not always the case. By this I mean, for example, "De zon ontmoet de aarde" or certain passages "Eenzaamheid in extase" . The highlight for me is purely ambient things like the title "Wijde wijdte" and "De weg naar het donker is nauwelijks verlicht" , in which they create a great atmosphere.

One more thing is worth mentioning - "Wijde wijdte" is a purely instrumental recording. With this concept,  Omgeving fought with honor, because the vocals didn't miss me here. For a while, I didn't really realize that she wasn't singing at all, but that could be seen as a sign that singing wasn't really missing. It is also nice to me that the vocal is not being replaced by an excess of solo guitar, as it often happens.

So how does "Wijde wijdte" stand? Certainly it is nice, it listens pleasantly and I dare say that the light above average is definitely playing here. It is certainly not a miracle, but if you are in the mood for more gentle atmospheric metal then Omgeving's debut can serve with dignity.