Band:	Velvet Cacoon
Album:	P Aa Opal Poere Pr. 33
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	August 22, 2009
A review by:	Lucas

01. 2.
02. Claverie
03. Marylux
04. Grevona
05. Aventine
06. Oviamoire
07. Sovarine
08. Flouvonne

If you don't know the grand mockery that is Velvet Cacoon, you have some homework to do. Let's just admit it guys, they fooled most – if not all – of us. Josh / SGL played a wonderful trick on us and we were all a bit embarrassed when he finally revealed the truth about Velvet Cacoon. Hence the sudden silence that smothered – and smothers – every bit of news the band emitted. Granted, the news was not as spectacular as the dieselharp or the stolen songs, but letting them release two full-lengths without any of us taking notice is the other extreme. So, Knight In Shining Armour Lucas is here to save the day!

So the elusive P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33 does really exist. So what's it like? Well, P aa Opal Poere Pr. 33 is like the hug of your mother after a horrific nightmare. It's warm, gentle drones are so friendly, so loving, so soft... you have no choice but to turn off the mind and to revel in them. There are riffs, but don't expect anything remotely Black metal or even metal. Slow, brooding and bassy tones are repeated and repeated, causing giant ripples of fuzzy distortion that go on and on and on and on. If you dissect the guitarplaying you will notice it is absolutely minimal in style, yet still a little sloppy at times. That really doesn't matter though, as it gives the drones they emit a vibrant and 'alive' touch. There are vocals too, shrieks mostly, but they are very faint and not really an important element. Whether or not you will like this will solely rely on the fact if you can stomach – enjoy even – utterly minimalistic drone ambient. It's not something I personally listen to a lot, but this release will get its regular spins. It's just so deliciously lethargic.

In the afterglow of all the lies Velvet Cacoon finally seem to be in the right position to grow out to gems. They'll probably never retrieve the trust of the Black metal community, but they probably hardly care. They've left the genre's harbour anyway and are now lost on the seas. I doubt they want to be anywhere else.

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I have one thing to add though – and this is in my opinion of vital importance.

My opinion of this album largely depends on my state of mind when listening. I've experimented with this a bit, listening to the album at various times of the day, when sober, energetic, exhausted, reading, tipsy etcetera (not in the by VC recommend drug-afterglow though) and I've come to the conclusion that the state of mind is incredibly influential on my opinion. I guess you can put it this way: I have multiple opinions of this album. If you think that in itself sounds phoney or weird, this is probably not your type of music. If you can imagine this I'd like to recommend you my favourite mindset – with headphones and exhausted, during the last forty minutes of your day. In almost every other mood it doesn't really show its full potential. Which is quite an interesting topic in itself, but unfortunately there's no space for that in this review.