Band:	Mizmor
Album:	Yodh
Style:	Black metal, Doom metal
Release date:	August 12, 2016
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Woe Regains My Substance
02. A Semblance Waning
03. The Serpent Eats Its Tail
04. Inertia, An Ill Compeller
05. Bask In The Lingering

For a while, I hadn't really been hearing many powerhouse releases this year in the blackened doom department, one of my favorite areas of the metal spectrum. Then Mizmor entered the picture.

As this year's Yodh clearly demonstrates, Mizmor, an American effort led only by the individual known as "A.L.N.," delivers blackened doom of a particularly high quality. The music here isn't a case here of "slow and heavy black metal" or "doom ice cream with black metal sprinkles," as is normally the case with this stylistic fusion, where listeners feel pushed more in one direction over the other. Instead, Mizmor seems to be electrified with the elusive energy necessary for channeling the best of both, combining a thunderous, razor sharp black metal sound with doomy riffs that could knock over Everest, weaving both around each other into a truly impressive amalgamation. Opener "Woe Regains My Substance" is as powerful an example as any.

Mizmor isn't necessarily the only band within blackened doom circles that melts the two dimensions of its music into an excellent 50/50 fusion in such a manner. Other bands that do, however, often focus on the more aggressive sides of black and doom, in turn leading their music to become rather cold, monolithic, and dark. Perhaps this is what black and doom metal are really all about to begin with, but what particularly stands out on Yodh, that you don't see very often with this style, is the emphasis not only on intense fusion but on melody as well. You can see this especially on "The Serpent Eats Its Tail," with its atmospheric opening that soon erupts in heavy doom riffage and black metal space later that somehow still retains the sublime beauty of the track's beginning. This is an excellent technique that flows well into the remaining core of the music, but it could have been a bit more spread out, which is probably the only downside of this album.

What makes black and doom metal such wonderful choices for musical fusion? With Yodh, Mizmor seems to answer this question in many different ways. Maybe it's because both are very minimalist in their compositional approach. Maybe it's because both tend to create very dark, melancholic atmospheres. And maybe it's because, lyrically, both often focus on themes of isolation and self reflection. Mizmor know, of course, that it is truly all of those things, exploiting each towards the creation of the highly impressive, enjoyable work that is Yodh. Sure, I would have liked those melodic elements I mentioned to be a bit more widely dispersed, but still... don't be fooled. This is the thunder of Elohim right here.

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