In the midst of a global pandemic that has resulted in a city wide lockdown that's presented me with a hell of a lot of free time, it was just last week that I was roaming through Order ov the Black Arts, bored, stir crazy, and hungry for new black metal discoveries. A share of this Yaldabaoth album by a fellow group member, and particularly the artwork, caught my attention. Deciding to investigate further for the music, a cold, dissonant, and mechanical assault greeted me. Yaldabaoth, a (probably) one man black metal beast from Anchorage, Alaska, is just what I needed during these confusing and somewhat harrowing times: something sounding gritty, aggressive, and apocalyptic.
Sticking to a mostly midtempo approach throughout, on the debut That Which Whets The Saccharine Palate (say that five times fast) Yaldabaoth delivers a style of black metal equal parts frenetic, hypnotic, and engaging. There's a very riff heavy approach across the whole album that, while not exactly deserving of the "catchy" label, certainly keeps things interesting and easy to pay attention to, and there's very little (if anything) on this release that could be dubbed as "filler" in any way. Additional sprinkles of melody and atmosphere here and there hint at deeper layers of a more ethereal, hypnotic approach as well, but largely stay as mere hints, as it's mostly the brooding, pounding black metal sound that dominates.
Throughout my listen to That Which Whets The Saccharine Palate, the fact that Yaldabaoth hails from Alaska kept coming to mind. I think there's definitely a bit of parallel with the sound of Icelandic black metal here, because with Alaska you have the same sort of situation where a cold, desolate, unforgiving landscape yields a similarly dark, brooding, and quasi-atmospheric take on black metal. While I wish Yaldabaoth had gone just a wee bit deeper into the melody and ambiance with this release, it still has far more going for it than what it lacks. Hopefully this project sees a little refinement and maturation in the songwriting department in the future, but with this debut things are definitely off to a pretty strong start.
Probably my favorite thing black metal this year along with Zalmoxis. Go whet your palate.
