Friday 10 April 2015

Cara Neir/Venowl - Split Tape


Tracklist:

1. Cara Neir - Aeonian Temple
2. Cara Neir - Nights...
3. Cara Neir - Pitiful Human Bindings
4. Venowl - Scour (Parts 1 & 2)

I can't believe it's nearly mid-April. It doesn't feel like I've got anywhere near far enough review- wise. I plan to write several this weekend in-between gigs and stuff. Tonight is all about black metal, Broken Limbs style! Starting with the Cara Neir/Venowl split tape from late last year. Both bands have featured here in recent-ish times but I craved somemore. Dallas black-metal duo Cara Neir have a new full-length on the way, while Illinois' Venowl continue to pummel with their blackened sludge-nightmare.

Cara Neir’s sound on this split is really clean. There’s black metal vox alongside sickeningly good melodic guitar. Anyone familiar with We Came Out Like Tiger’s latest and last full-length will definitely appreciate Aeonian Temple. In fact, they’ll appreciate all of Cara Neir’s contributions to this split. Nights… is a laid back song full of chilled guitar and spoken-word style vocals. The last time I reviewed them was when they released their split with Ramlord, but here they sound like a different band altogether. Pitiful Human Bindings is more punk-like in approach and Cara Neir make great use of their side of this release, filling it with gloriously varied music. This final track is their most expansive but is a pleasure to listen too. Their blackened-crust piercing through the airwaves. Venowl are a completely different beast, but you’ll know that already if you’ve heard their Patterns Of Failure tape. Scour (Parts 1 & 2) is chock full of uncomfortably claustrophobic doom. The recording/production takes on a greater live sound than that of Cara Neir’s, though for me the latter’s is more suited to their style. Venowl are a more haunting proposition and can’t really be compared to Cara Neir. For starters, Scour (Parts 1 & 2) is over twenty-minutes long and is pretty harrowing. Its got a sense of real improvisation to it, which sometimes only comes from the most creative of doom bands. The genre is known for it’s trance-like nature and Venowl invoke that here. The ringing feedback coupled with the rumbling-bass makes the song impossible to ignore. I didn’t think a split like this would work, with two bands from opposite ends of extreme metal spectrum, but it does. It’s infectious and the vision of both Cara Neir and Venowl is admirable. Hats off to Broken Limbs for making it happen as well. 

You can stream and download the split here:-



Tapes can be purchased from Broken Limbs Recordings via the above bandcamp page or via their store here - http://brokenlimbsrecordings.com/shop/.

Cara Neir Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/caraneir
Venowl Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Venowl
Broken Limbs Recordings Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brokenlimbs

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