I’ve covered some raw bands here before: Avmakt, Ad Infinem Omnia, and Horna, to name three, and Embers of Ouroboros are now firmly seated among the raw and uncooked Black Metal kvlt as hell pantheon.

The Autumnal Decline and Hermetic Maturation is an ode to the 1^st and 2^nd wave Black Metal bands. First track “Innate and Gnarled” burns some of Satyricon’s Shadowthrone fuel over the course of its 4:33 runtime, the guitars sizzle against the blitzkrieg drums and bass.

I’m beginning to think that this is the work of one dude, also, I don’t know his name… oh well.

“A Comforting Darkness” has an early Immortal-sized heart, I’m talking about Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism and Pure Holocaust in terms of shredding ferocity. That opening riff is bombastic, and when the song opens up it has this earworm tremolo picked primal touch that’s killer.

“The Autumnal Decline” is one of those slow-burning Black Metal Darkthrone-ish numbers that sounds like it was played through a decaying Crate amplifier. It picks up speed near the two-minute mark and rides that fiery horse till the end, where this fat assed riff takes control and the blasts storm in.

“Systematic Metamorphosis”, “As Silence Casts Out its Eternal Divide” are more Darkthrone-ish Total Death era, and they match the flow of the album diabolically well.

“Our Crypts of Blackened Ice and Hermetic Spirits” is almost as much of a mouthful as the title, and it draws a bit on Gorgoroth’s Antichrist for its mitigation of malice. “Dying Too Slow” is another acid-dripping track, stoked within the fires of Hell.

Everything ends with “The Incarnation of Hypocrisy” and it’s been a wild ride for sure. More acid-dripping riffs and a battering ram of drums blast away at Mach speed… then it ends.

With only the barest of information about the actual band themselves (or himself). I don’t know if the drums are programmed or not. Which doesn’t really matter because The Autumnal Decline And Hermetic Maturation is a pretty good Black Metal album at the end of the day. It has its moments where it kills, and fortunately, the good things override the bad.

If you like Darkthrone, Throne of Katarsis, and Throne of Ahaz, then Embers Of Ouroboros are going to be right up your tree.