It’s been a decade since Ryan ‘Killusion’ Lipynsky and Jared ‘Jaldagar’ Turinsky worked under the Thralldom banner and their return is being saluted, albeit unceremoniously, with this digital-only EP.
Thralldom still refuse to be categorically lumped in with any one scene or sound; black metal has long been a thorn in Thralldom’s side, and despite how vehemently they deny any in-depth involvement, the obvious sonic connections remain. To their credit, though, the hypnotic repetition of funereal minor-key passages and arpeggios (Stars And Graves) are balanced out by elements of death rock on Dark Grey Mist and psychedelic noise rock on The Corpse Of The Radar Towers Over All. Not helping them rise above comparisons with the dark arts, however, is the cold, icy production screams Norway’s second wave. Of course, that production aesthetic has now become a categorical standard, though it must be recognised that the murky sonic quality of Time Will Bend… does little to enhance the ambitious material.
