It’s a key thing for music in general that people pour their hearts and souls into the music they’re pouring forth. Showing emotion is far from a rarity in metal, and black metal isn’t always the first thing people think of when mixing emotion and metal but the dark world of depressive black metal would love to disagree with you. That corner of the black metal world has never really been my forte, but it’s bands that Ezkaton that always keep me coming back and albums like this that always make me salivate.

Atmospheric black metal is already enough of a craze throughout the world as people love the atmosphere, period. It’s no shock that bands have infused it with other styles so that even more can share in on the fascination that a tasty atmosphere can bring about as each listener is different therefore desires for infinite atmospheres. Combining the immersion of the atmospheric and the emotion behind depressive black metal it’s not hard to see why Ezkaton’s upcoming record is such a tasty treat. The seven tracks of “Plague for the Empires: Time” are heavily coated in an atmosphere, riffs, and darkness while it’s the vocals that obviously encourage the depressive themes as it all comes together beautifully to create an experience that’s not only explosive but also self-restraining at the right moments. Each strike that Ezkaton makes is incredibly calculated, and “Plague for the Empires” is a real rollercoaster as this Ukrainian act shows real prowess as the style seems as easy as breathing to them, and one song to the next is an absolute pleasure to listen to. Ezkaton knows how to keep the album moving without ever allowing it to become stale by keeping the atmosphere around for too long, not letting the instruments take over, or have enough diversity in sound.

There’s not much to complain about “Plague for the Empires” if there’s anything to all, and I feel like Ezkaton knows this because you can’t bring together an album like this without being exactly aware of what you’re creating. In its entirety, this record is a very flavorable one as Ezkaton really shows off their strengths at full power with each track showing one great thing after another, and I’d be more than keen to see what these Ukrainians manage to summon in the future.

“Plague for the Empires: Time” releases on April 30th via Wolfspell Records!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Plague for the Empires: Time” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ezkaton on Facebook here.