Band:	Aderlating
Album:	Hell Follows
Style:	Drone, Electronic, Noise
Release date:	December 04, 2015
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Black Heaven
02. Golden Streams
03. From The Mouth Of Gods
04. Choir Of Sick Children
05. Curse
06. Always Burning
07. Hell Follows
08. The Howling Pyriphlegethon Below
09. The Silver Domain

Maurice de Jong has always been quite the prolific composer, but there can be no denying that he's been particularly hyperactive this year. After a Seirom EP, releases from his new It Only Gets Worse and Pyriphlegethon projects, new Gnaw Their Tongues and Cloak Of Altering full lengths, and even a collab with the vile Dragged Into Sunlight, it's time for this active madman to give us one final installment in the soundtrack to our 2015 nightmares. Turn that night light on, kiddies: new Aderlating has arrived.

For those unfamiliar with Aderlating, one could almost think of this duo (for it also includes long time Mories associate Eric Eijspaart) in terms of "Gnaw Their Tongues minus the metal." Whereas the majority of the project's releases sit in a territory of dense, smothering, droney dark ambient, this year's Hell Follows takes quite a different approach. Most notable here is the overall cleaner, "warmer" production. Things this time around aren't really cloaked in a thick layer of noise-influenced darkness as much as they are brought out in full with an almost spacey type of aesthetic, that more so seems to be carrying you in stasis through a field of psychic mist than plunging you into an abysmal void. Synths also seem to have a more pronounced presence than usual, especially on "Golden Streams."

It is testament to Mories's own prowess as a composer, however, that Aderlating can make such an evolution of sound without compromising any of the nighmarish vibes that have come to define the band. Make no mistake with Hell Follows: just because the production here isn't as dirty and hazy as on previous albums doesn't mean the music is any less terrifying. The title track, with its dazing electronics and spoken word parts, is especially spine tingling. Yet another, perhaps more interesting aspect of Hell Follows is the fact that it seems to also allude quite a great deal to other Mories projects. The rumbling bass on "Curse," for example, conjures many thoughts of Gnaw Their Tongues. The electronic effects lurking within "From The Mouth Of Gods" evoke memories of the more recent Cloak Of Altering material. And the approach taken on "The Silver Domain" makes me think of something almost like a darker, heaving incarnation of Seirom. This is unquestionably an Aderlating album at the end of the day, but the fact that it also seems to incorporate many other, non-Aderlating Mories trademarks into its overall sound is something that makes it both sophisticated and just downright delicious.

And thus Mr. de Jong ends his frantic barrage of 2015 releases on quite the high note, with what could very well be the best of them all. Hell Follows very much seems to compensate for almost everything else that may have been lacking in other Mories albums from this year, because other than the speed aspect (which would feel quite out of place anyway), it very much seems to cover all the bases, everything from eerie and unsettling to beautiful and transcendent, atmospheric and hypnotizing to heavy and unrelenting. And moreover, the significant change up of the Aderlating sound that this album sees only further confirms that Mories is a guy who never really likes to sit in a certain territory for too long with his music. He's got quite a considerable number of tricks in his hat, and at times that hat does indeed seem to be bottomless.

Has my vote for Mories AOTY. Go and indulge.