The sprawling reaches of black metal are always quite a sight to behold in many forms in virtually every way, and it’s in its darkest regions that some of the best material resides even if the style as a whole is quite grim and forever drenched in moonlight. It’s in those areas where black metal overlaps with its doomy counterpart that some of the styles best works can be found even if it requires some digging to find, and that arguably makes it even better if you ask me. When it comes to their debut EP, Grimorte has created four brilliant examples as to why that statement is more accurate than many may realize.

There’s nothing quite like some lightless material that knows how to take its time where many are often far too quick to act as they seek to put the knife in the flesh the moment that they can, but it’s instead that many black/doom acts are more than capable of playing that long game to keep your attention for the entirety of the material such that you grasp every facet of what’s entering your brain through your ears and it’s only after falling for what you’ve been hearing that their blade slides through your ribs without a second thought. In many ways, that’s what Grimorte has accomplished here. While there’s still improvement to be had, as with any debut, there’s no possible way for me to deny the fact that what has been done here is powerful to its very core as Grimorte has crafted something that has to be the start of something tremendous in many ways. Every single minute that “Esoteric Ascendance” graces us with is drenched in magnificence the likes of which doesn’t hit my ears often through a style like this, and it honestly makes me want to binge unknown acts of black/doom in order to find something that comes even close to what’s going on within this spectacular EP, but I can’t help but feel that very few could match what has been done here. Every inch of “Esoteric Ascendance” is quality on a scale that I was simply not prepared for, and with this just being the very beginning of what Grimorte can dish out then I cannot wait to see what they can craft when they’ve grown over time to become something that, surely, will be something titanic in many forms.

Debuts like this are few and far between, and that makes what Grimorte has created here all the more special for how rare it feels. “Esoteric Ascendance” marks the very beginning for an act whose future is bright in every sense, but their devastation and havoc that they will bring with them will surely be no less than the darkest of nights.

LISTEN to “Esoteric Ascendance” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Grimorte on Facebook here.