Band:	Consummation
Album:	The Great Solar Hunter
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	June 07, 2019
A review by:	RaduP

01. Ophidian Crown
02. The Great Solar Hunter
03. Phosphor Libation
04. Apotheoses
05. The Eminent Fires Of Sacrifice

Turns out there's more to Australian death metal than Portal.

There's also Psycroptic.

Speaking of Psycroptic, I didn't bring them up just for shits and giggles, but their drummer is also the drummer of Consummation, a band whose debut album also sports talent of ex-members of Impetuous Ritual and Weakling, the latter of which should arise a bit of curiosity, despite it not being exactly clear whether John Gossard is actually a full-time member or just does guitar on this record. Regardless his contribution does make this one of the most effective blackened death metal albums of the year.

And yes, this is a blackened death metal album, but if feels more akin to Abyssal or Desolate Shrine, but with leaning way more towards the black metal spectrum. But I'll have to admit that comparing The Great Solar Hunter to an Abyssal record might be a standard it cannot reach, there are similarities in sound, with the long atmosphere-driven songs that twist and turn in harrowing ways. So, if the comparison didn't make it clear enough, there is a lot of atmosphere on this record. Not the ambiance one, but the one where it constantly feels like the dissonance is trampling over you.

And for a blackened death metal album whose drummer plays in a tech death metal band, I would've expected the drumming to be a bit more on the technical side, and while there are some instances where that is the case, the drumming here seems to focus more on a repetitive industrial type that furthers the crushing atmosphere, while not feeling like a programmed drum either. The guitar play (and what sounds like keyboards/organ, though no one is credited to playing any of those) does create some unexpectedly epic/awe-inspiring moments to contrast the snarls and the usual dissonance that sweeps most releases of this kind. While the songwriting and performances are great, I can't help but wish the production was a bit more suffocating.

Overall, while still not reaching the heights that some of their peers do, The Great Solar Hunter does show a band whose songwriting takes blackened death metal in a myriad of different directions without feeling forced or derivative.