Usually, whenever I review any given material from any band I normally expect anywhere from at least six months to a year before hearing from that act again, and that’s only if they’re really going at it behind the scenes to create something new for us to listen to. It was barely three weeks ago when I wrote up the last work from Starless Domain! I’m far from upset about it as it’s with their second offering in under a month that they’ve teamed up with an act that I’ve been patiently waiting to hear more from: Tome of the Unreplenished. The noise unit astounded me a few years ago with a devilish work almost three years ago putting out what’s still my favorite work of the style, and it’s with this effort paired with Starless Domain that this effort is nothing short of suffocating.

I knew that Tome of the Unplenished has had something in the works for quite some time now, and it was just a matter of time so I bided my time. Starless Domain really impressed with “Alma” and I still highly suggest it for any fan of uncompromising cosmic black metal that spares no soul whatsoever, so I was really interested to see what they could accomplish with a noise act that clearly knows its way around the style. It, surely, would be a caustic experience that takes us through every possible layer of the void whether we like it or not to provide us with a cerebral album that is massive in its presence and all-consuming in even its calmest of moments. I had nothing but confidence that such a dark alliance would give us something definitely worth listening to for anyone willing to listen to it, and, fortunately, there isn’t a single speck of what’s brought to the table here by both bands that doesn’t make “Epistolary of the Fall” something that any adventurous fan of both these styles should experience at least once.

There are but two tracks that are brought forth for “Epistolary of the Fall”, and that surprised me a good bit for Tome of the Unreplenished but not so much for Starless Domain given “Alma” is just one awesome long track. The first song is provided by Tome of the Unreplenished and clocks almost 19 minutes long and is pulled off surprisingly well given the man has never done anything on that scale before, and to say it’s possibly his best work yet would be putting it mildly. It’s truly corrosive in its nature and really knows how to work its way into your brain such that even the calm moments are incredibly loud because of how well Tome of the Unreplenished penetrates the psyche with acidic psychedelia almost instantly, and it’s throughout the entirety of “Proskynesis” that you are worn down into a paper-thin shell of your former self that’s poised for perfect decimation and corruption. And that’s where Starless Domain crashes in. With an over 38-minute devastator, everything that Tome of the Unreplenished did with noise to wear you down as much as possible, Starless Domain seeks to disintegrate you in the most splendid fashion as viciously as they can. There’s so much to unravel with what Starless Domain brings here that it’s almost impossible for me to put it into words because of how chaotic and all-encompassing it is in its composition as this one single track easily shits on many other works of the style. It works in glorious unison with Tome of the Unreplenished to create a truly soul-draining split that does not disappoint in the slightest whether you look at “Epistolary of the Fall” as a work of noise enhanced with black metal or a work of black metal that uses noise to stupendous effect. Either way, there’s no denying the quality that’s on constant display here.

This is not a pair that I would’ve expected any time soon, but I wouldn’t have it any other way now that I’ve listened to it over and over. The whole of “Epistolary of the Fall” is a corrosive and hypnotic work that’s possibly one of the most entrancing splits of its kind that I’ve had the pleasure of hearing, and both bands should be extremely proud of both of their creations that they’ve given to us in this over 50-minute long offering. Tome of the Unreplenished continues to be my favorite noise act with this single song showing new levels of excellence for the realm of noise while Starless Domain continues to devastate our ears with works that are not for the faint of heart or uninitiated. Truly, both bands are must-hear acts for their respective scenes.

LISTEN to “Epistolary of the Fall” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Tome of the Unreplenished on Facebook here.

LIKE Starless Domain on Facebook here.