Should you be even a little familiar with black metal, you know that the scene is one that has easily the most amount of variety and experimentation in all of metal. It’s something that constantly has us crawling back time and again as there’s always something new to hear, and the Cyprus act of Winds of Mayhem or WOM is a veteran of trying new things with his music. Last year’s album of “Psychedelic Noir” was something that I still greatly appreciate, and it’s with this new album that WOM shakes things up yet again.

The main thing that’s at the real forefront of this record that makes it something else entirely from the rest of WOM’s discography is the fact that it’s all instrumental. It’s not terribly often that we get an instrumental black metal act by any means, so it’s something that instantly drew me in and given my experience with WOM I knew that I was in for something a least slightly fresh but definitely flavorful. The four tracks of “Ascend, Thy River” makes this the shortest WOM record since 2015, but that doesn’t take away the quality by any means nor the intrigue that the clear experimentation brings to the table. This record takes massive liberties by pushing the boundaries of black metal to some of its most atmospheric lengths as sometimes it’d be hard to call it metal at all as WOM truly goes all in with the experimentation, but what we’re greeted with is a solid balance of ethereal atmosphere, transcendent intensity, and clear mastery that many bands seem to lack sometimes. “Ascend, Thy River” really comes together to become something that I’d expect out of acts like Skyforest who are currently in a state of reinvention as they try to create new sounds and become something different. If you ask me, not including WOM among such acts given the quality we see here would be a damned insult.

To see a band constantly go under evolution is something that will always have me constantly crawling back for more as bands like WOM continue to release one interesting piece of material after another. “Ascend, Thy River” is by far nothing I’d consider great, but there’s a solid foundation that’s laid with this record that shows how WOM can expand and create something that’s new as well as something that can lure us in as we can continue to see this act broaden the horizon with their sonic excellence.

LISTEN to “Ascend, Thy River” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE WOM on Facebook here.