A Village in Despair

A Village in Despair

A VILLAGE IN DESPAIR is an Atmospheric Black Metal band from Sri Lanka. The quartet […]
August 13, 2017
A Village In Despair - A Village In Despair album cover

A VILLAGE IN DESPAIR is an Atmospheric Black Metal band from Sri Lanka. The quartet present their debut EP here, self-titled, which contains three tracks; all of them around a similar length of six minutes. "The Promise" opens with a horrific scream and demonic voices that rise out of the bottomless pit below. The ringmaster is torturing unsuspecting souls for crimes they committed against humanity in their life among the living. The spoken clean female voice almost sounds soothing...for a brief moment...lest you forget the evil of the earlier sound. During this slow and ambient passage, you almost cling to a glimmer of hope, but it is short-lived. The anguished screams of the blackened male voice are fervent enough to wake the dead.

"Hope and Longing" hears the tormented vocals at full charge. They vary in range and intensity but the unholy and filthy delivery could not be cured by all the priests or holy water in all of the world. Indeed, the beast begins to take form, with vile intentions, and all manner of pestilence is summoned towards him, becoming part of this growing power. The familiar female voice could be the hostess of Hades, announcing the orders of her master to the torture chambers, in an almost jovial way. "Helpless" is the final track on the EP. The beast rises now, fully formed, and ready to conquer the Earth, bringing fire and brimstone and able to cover the world in eternal pain and darkness. The vocals seem to echo in the wind all around you, like the beguiles of a Siren in Greek mythos. The intensity builds from the chord progressions of the guitars and amped up percussion, until the fade-out at the end, sucking your soul to a place of no rest.

This is a very promising debut-EP for this Black Metal outfit from Sri-Lanka. They sure know how to embody the concepts of evil and vile malevolence in their music. The vocals are without a doubt the sound that carries these concepts the furthest. You haven't heard anguish and bone breaking pain like this before. What lies behind these eyes is something that burns with so much foulness that gazing upon it would blacken your insides forever. Keep your eyes on this band as they have a bright future in the genre.

8 / 10

Excellent

Songwriting

7

Musicianship

8

Memorability

8

Production

8
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"A Village in Despair" Track-listing:

1. The Promise
2. Hope and Longing
3. Helpless

A Village in Despair Lineup:

Buddhika Karunsekara - Vocals
Sandun Harshana - Guitars
Kasun Nawarathne - Drums
Melani Gunathilaka - Backing Vocals

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