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Dark Fortress
Dark Fortress - Ylem

1. Ylem
2. As The World Keels Over
3. Osiris
4. Silence
5. Evenfall
6. Redivider
7. Satan Bled
8. Hirudineans
9. Nemesis
10. The Valley
11. Wraith
12. Sycamore Trees

Ylem is hypothesized to be the substance from which all matter is derived, before the formation of the chemical elements. ‘Ylem’ is not its namesake - it far transcends the simpler sounds of the death and black metal at its roots. In Dark Fortress’s lab they have fused the heavy iron of death metal and the grey carbon of black metal, placing the German sextet’s album on the periodic table between gold and mercury.

Self-titled track ‘Ylem’ has all the heavier elements of metal and lacks the tinny, hollow rawness of its black counterpart. The more polished production throws walls of distorted guitar and thrashing drums, clarified by the hum of gothic synth and the whap of the bass drum. ‘As The World Keels Over’ starts with the soulful mourning of a solo guitar and carries its doom-laden melancholy in to tracks like ‘Silence’ and ‘Nemesis’.

‘Ylem’ changes dynamic, tempo and style with a continuously cohesive sound. It bonds the brute strength of metal and the grace of synth with the harshness black metal, omitting (in most places) the mindless noise typical of the traditional style. The songs can be a little on the long side and it becomes somewhat inert from ‘Evenfall’ onwards, but ‘Wraith’ is a gem, showing a more delicate touch for darkness. New element on the table: Df.

Reviewed by Annette Simmonds
‘Ylem’ is out now on Century Media Records.






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