Aphotic专辑介绍：2004 record by Aphotic, and an unearthed masterpiece from the legendary Dusk, the band's unreleased final recording from 1997. Dusk must be of the best examples as to why timing, and to some extent location can be key in the success of your band. Dusk were far from pampered, they started out as an old school death metal band with strong leanings to the doom genre, something not really common in the States. But not only that, they come from Wisconsin which is very far from Florida or even the bay area. So had Dusk came from Sweden, they may have gotten a lot more enthusiasm, even more that they started out just at the right time - but not the right place. It wasn't going so well so they split up in '98 after releasing their self-titled ep and the Majestic Thou in Ruin album. They seemed to have missed the times playing in a band, so two years after, all of them except for the drummer started a new band called Aphotic. Death/doom was still their crush so they continued so, only taking a different approach, using primarily dissonant riffs and soothing melodies. The new iteration was as short-lived, suffering from the same fate, lacking a label signing deal. But after their demise, one recording was left unattended. They managed to release it, but while unearthing a big surprise; Dusk's unreleased, final recording from '97. The split begins with Aphotic's side, To Find New Darkness. It's actually the first - and only - time I ever heard Aphotic, getting my hands on the last Dusk release being my main concern. "Crystallized" starts with some almost ominous keys, accompanied by clean guitar notes as well as some faint drum hits, until the guitars kick in with the vocals and the song getting some more drive. Although the mood the keyboards conveyed weren't as dark and foreboding than what Dusk accustomed us to, you immediately notice big differences in style. It's understandable as from where they trekked, but the whole approach here is different; according a lot more importance to dissonance. Most of the distorted riffs here are dissonant and disquieting, occasionally - but restrained - venturing into overt death metal or melodic riffing, giving more place to the clean guitar riffs, keyboards and soothing murmurs to build something crossway between a worrisome and appeasing atmosphere - at times leaning to one side or the other - with a small mysterious vibe going around. Due to the distorted guitars' general lack of direction, the drumming becomes a lot more important, giving aim and rhythm, compensating for the guitars lacking. The beats are also quite different than what Dusk presented us, maybe more akin to the slower types of black metal than death metal, giving a distinct feel. Having the same vocalist - well, he joined after their album - the style is similar as you would expect, maybe just less deep and a little throatier than his preceding slightly throaty growls. And not unlike their previous band, the performance is mostly mid paced, occasionally slowing down. While it may sound unfair to compare so closely two bands, the origin and nature of Aphotic makes the absence of Dusk comparisons for any explication of their sound almost negligent. All in all, Aphotic seems like a worthy successor of Dusk. It doesn't get too near their incredible breed of tense, chilling doom/death, but it's still some really good atmospheric and dissonant metal. Now for the real treat, Dusk's side; The Slumber. And I'm quite puzzled as to why it took 8 years for the recording to be released, it has the stunning compositions of Dusk's other material but took further the direction they took on Majestic Thou in Ruin. Their only album slowed down the band a little, going deeper into doom metal territory, the death sound not becoming a mere influence but not as prevalent, not the primary sound anymore. And if that's something Dusk did, it was crafting a particular sound for themselves, one that could not be attributed a satisfying genre tag as it was both death and doom metal at the same time, as well as being neither of them. On The Slumber, the death metal is being even more toned down and... the doom as well, the faster moments being more sparse too. It kind of bridges the gap between the Majestic Thou in Ruin album and Aphotic's material, where the latter is coming from now becomes a lot more apparent. There's two style of playing displayed here; the more death metal one returning a little to the style found on the Dusk ep as well as showing some new sounds, while the slower passages being a further evolution - one which we only briefly witnessed on the "Yearning for Eternity" track which was released on a compilation called Visionaries of the Macabre. Those faster death metal parts are quite different at the same time; they have a lot less old school feeling but more of a natural one, murky maybe. The vocalist, Chad, only appeared before on the aforementioned track. He showed a different, throatier vocal style than Steve Crane's mix of scream and growl. The drumming is as noteworthy as before, effectively playing something not generic and fitting, the drummer using anything on his kit he may need to achieve this. But the principal interest here, is where the more moody passages of the album took them. And while the more death and doom moments were solid, typical of Dusk (though not as solid than on earlier material), the atmosphere they created when they drop most metal is astonishing. You recognize the structure of those passages from The New Darkness; lone clean guitar notes being played with some minimal drumming and maybe keyboards, sometimes being accompanied by non dissonant - though close - faint distorted riffing. It's accomplished masterfully here, conveying some disquieting, straying and slightly esoteric, sometimes more than others, atmosphere as well as some appeasing moments like in "Moonbeams". Speaking of the closer, it's probably the best track here, going through all the moods of the release unfolding until the end. It will leave you with a kind of void, as if you would have hope it to continue for much longer. It will be even more a disappointment considering it's barely 25 minutes, making it Dusk's shortest release among short releases. This split between Dusk and Aphotic is truly some gem. It is the final recording of both bands, and Dusk's side being a worthy testament of such an incredible short lived band. You can clearly see from where Aphotic took their sound, as well as to where Dusk took theirs. Those are short recordings, but anyone who likes more or less distressed atmospheric metal, from the doom genre or not, should definitely dig into this. Thinking of it again, it's such a shame, Dusk only managed to write an hour and twenty minutes of some of the best doom/death around. Still, their quality releases will be left undiluted as some more fortunate bands continue to spew forth poor releases after the other.