olim - Ursine (2022)

Olim, or Joe Caswell, creates his solo music to channel the complicated feelings that make up blackgaze and atmospheric black metal genres and produce the "soaring passages of epic post-black melodies that are simultaneously melancholy and uplifting". On his second album under this moniker, Ursine, those are particularly striking.

And it's absolutely obvious that Caswell knows what he does. The compositions here are atmospheric in every meaning of the world while still being pretty fast-paced. The music is overwhelming and monumental, taking no time to develop, but, instead, attacks the audience with the heavy and rhythmic sound from the very beginnings of the songs til the very ends. But, blackgaze-like, the music feels also extremely smooth and inviting. This makes it a perfect trance-like experience as it's really difficult to stop listening until the very end. Ultimately, this is an album that can be enjoyed by both black metal and shoegaze fans equally and I'm here for it.

Ursine costs 4.5 EUR (6 CAD).

Check: Light Crept in Where Once Was None

Country: Canada

Genre: atmospheric black metal

Label: Flowing Downward

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