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Post-Black Metal: Sadness - Circle of Veins (2019)

75 / 100

I have listened to Sadness on the album Alluring the Distant Eye and didn’t feel so interested. Then my friend posted a Whatsapp status that played Sadness – "Eye of Prima" chorus/choirs part and I’m so amazed.

And when I checked their page, I became more surprised by the total discography. I still wonder how some artists/bands could be so productive like this one. Maybe because it’s one man band/project, so they have much time without any obstacle to take practice with the other members.

Come from the United States, Sadness is, yeah, a one-man band by Damián AntĂłn Ojeda, active since 2014 and released many albums. I think this is one of the most famous post-black metal projects today. Album Circle of Veins itself out on March 24th, 2019. I just listened to this album overall this year. The opening song is ‘Eye of Prima’, an ace song from this album, in my opinion. Shoegaze atmospheres, clean vocals, and soothing children's choirs blended with sorrowful man screams make this song depressive enough.

Another part I like is the keyboards in the last part, it’s crushing my soul. ‘Cerrien’ is dominated by noisy atmospheres and keyboards, making it so shoegaze-like. ‘Lana’ and ‘The Spring Sun on Summer Rain’ give a more energetic pace, but did not forget their depressive/black metal vibes, especially on ‘The Spring Sun on Summer Rain’. 
This fourth song sounded more cheerful with those electronic/dubstep synths, then immediately changed into depressive black metal form until the song ended. If you like restless drums beats, that fourth song has it as well, even though just a few seconds. Afterward, the last and the longest song, ‘I Follow Rivers’ was filled with nine minutes of thin riffs and drums and ambient/noise for the rest. 

Overall, this album has some good impressions at the first time, then slowly becomes boring a bit, for me. ‘Eye of Prima’ and ‘The Spring Sun on Summer Rain’ are great tracks to give listen to.

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