It’s already been one fuck of a week for black metal, hasn’t it? Just two days ago, I discussed the upcoming Mare Cognitum album with that alone being enough to talk about to make many of us return our attention to the world of atmospheric black metal, but no – that wasn’t enough! After having been delayed due to certain events that paused the fucking earth, Midnight Odyssey has also returned to us with the second part of the anticipated “Biolume” trilogy, and, yes, it is also exactly and so much more of what we’ve been craving.

An almost two-hour long album is something that we simply don’t see every day from any style, but when we’re talking about Midnight Odyssey, it’s honestly stranger to see that not be the case. It was with 2019’s “Biolume Part 1 – In Tartarean Chains” that we got an extraordinarily fascinating album, even by the standards of Midnight Odyssey, the likes of which many of us could not stop listening to for all the granidosity that it brought to the table in full force without an ounce of shame or blemish to be seen, and it’s with the sequel that is “Biolume Part 2: The Golden Orb” that we have gotten a creation that is both the natural progression from its predecessor and much more than what I was anticipating. If you were to have told me beforehand that this album was to have a Hellenic flair to it brought to life gorgeously via multiple different kinds of instruments and, as always, on-point synth-work that lifts the virtual entirety of “The Golden Orb” onto another level then I would’ve believed you almost unconditionally, and I cannot express enough how well Midnight Odyssey pulled it off. The Hellenic flavors that permeate every facet of this 100-minute epic right from the striking cover art to the very decision to go from one key of the synth to the next make the overwhelming whole of “The Golden Orb” a staggering middle chapter in a vastly excited triolgy that hasn’t even finished yet, and that’s barely even talking about the quality of the black metal that’s at play here since we all already know it’s fucking spectacular! In every capacity, Midnight Odyssey has delivered the album that we knew it would bring forth, but it’s still undeniably fascinating to listen to in every way with each element being downright applause-worthy as Midnight Odyssey not only pushes himself as a musician but the very boundaries of atmospheric black metal itself to retain its well-deserved and rarely contested title as one of the undisputed kings of the sound by far!

The middle chapter in any trilogy can often be the trickiest to pull off since how do you know the right point to leave off in order to bring people back for that finale whilst still feeling like a natural, however temporary, conclusion that feels satisfying. Seemingly without breaking a sweat, Midnight Odyssey has accomplished that beautifully with everything in “The Golden Orb” being an unexpected but undeniably fitting progression from “In Tartarean Chains” while still feeling like it leaves us off at the perfect point that makes these nine tracks conclude deliciously. Any dive into this magnificent album should be enough to convince any single fan of the style of what we’re really dealing with here, and, at the end of it all, “The Golden Orb” has done nothing more than further cement and emphasize the sheer excellence of the name of Midnight Odyssey with it also just being one chapter in a growing history of godliness.

“Biolume Part 2: The Golden Orb” releases on March 19th via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “The Golden Orb” on Bandcamp here.

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