Year of No Light - Consolamentum (2021)

Nearly eight years have passed since Year of No Light’s last full length release “Tocsin”. Making all the wait completely worth it, “Consolamentum” delivers a monumentally sonically abusive 55 minutes of soul-crushing instrumental Post-Metal/Doom. Competing with the latest Amenra release, this album explores the depths of sound with its punishing onslaughts and nicely evolves the band’s already signature style.

Opening with a few minutes of drone/atmospheric intro, “Objuration” slowly builds up to massive riffs and oppressive drum patterns. The atmospherics nicely further elevate the band’s sound, creating very contrasting and dissonant sections. The second piece, “Alétheia” burns even slower with a dreamy Post-Rock-ish/Shoegazy intro that gradually escalates into sweet sweet heaviness.

For the heavier Doom crowd, “Interdix aux Vivant, aux Morts et aux Chiens” unleashes demoralizing slabs of distortion that blend back and forth with lighter and more dynamic interchanges between the band’s other influences. Our favorite track has to be the enigmatic “Réalgar” and its moody tempo changes on top of brilliant layering of the heavy and dreamy influences.

Just when you think Year of No Light can’t surprise you anymore, “Came” unleashes a weird synthwave influenced piece, pairing punishing riffs alongside funky atmospherics. While this pairing might sound odd on paper, it brilliantly comes together to create a very unique and engaging track. As a whole, “Consolamentum” is another very exciting release from this French outfit that showcases tons of creativity and versatility, keeping things quite fresh, weird, and awesome.

Label: Pelagic Records

Release: July 2nd, 2021

Genre: Post-Metal/Doom/Drone

Country: France