Atmospheric black metal has always been interesting to me as it is a genre that can express many things: loneliness, hostility, peacefulness, and even tranquility. It can contain all sorts of ambiance from the sound of water flowing over on rocks to the echoing of a cave to the wind in a snow waste. Old Graves’ new album “This Ruin Beneath Snowfall” is no different. This album is only about 22 minutes in length, but in that are 4 amazing tracks that any fan of the genre will be able to enjoy and appreciate as I do. There weren’t as many atmospheric effects like wind or running water, but the guitars made up for that by having an interesting sound throughout the whole album that I can only applaud because of how well done they are. The vocals have a very distant feel to them as if someone were screaming at you from far away, and the drums had both a fast and calm pace at certain points in “This Ruin Beneath Snowfall” and that really allowed the rhythm to progress nicely. This is overall a very nice atmospheric black metal release as it has got everything that I could ever want or need out of the genre. The execution was spot on and the feel earns my thumbs up without hesitation.

LISTEN to “This Ruin Beneath Snowfall” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Old Graves on Facebook here.