Band:	Highgate
Album:	Black Frost Fallout
Style:
Release date:	April 10, 2011
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Black Frost Fallout
02. Sermon Of The Apocalypse
03. Burial Light
04. The Wolf
05. G.H.H
06. Sermon Of The Apocalypse 2005
07. The Sea Of Perdition
08. Untitled, Second Movement [live]
09. Black Frost Fallout [live]

Okay, time for a review that will probably be wholly unhelpful. Highgate - sort of a blackened doom type deal we have going on here. Simple enough to review, right? Well not so much, as this release is one of those scrapbook type releases, showcasing tracks from various demos, live recordings, and vaults so to speak. Combine the fact that a release like this only offers something to already existent fans with the fact that I am completely unfamiliar with them leaves me feeling a bit lost.

So the music? Pretty basic by the sounds of it; grimy, raw-as-all-hell grimness, occasionally breaking into top-speed black metal, but for the most part finds itself comfortable in the dragging, depressive doom sound. Despite being evidently comfortable doing what they do in this particular genre, this really lacks substance, which brings me to the dilemma with this review. Yes, if this band was to be judged on this little collection of lost pieces alone, I would say it's fairly generic, unexciting, aimless, etc. However, one has to consider that these songs didn't make it onto an album for a reason. Highgate clearly have a grasp on what it is they're doing, so perhaps expecting something remarkable from this is not the purpose.

Black Frost Fallout is just too inconsistent (intentionally, mind you), that what it is you're hearing should only be considered a loose framework about what the band is about. It's enjoyable enough that I would consider looking into some of their more concentrated releases, this one however is best left to the fans.