BLACK PARTILCES is a Post-Metal/Blackgaze band from Budapest, Hungary. On April 2, 2020 they released their debut EP, "Wave Function Collapse." Finding info on the band members is about as interesting as doing research on wave function collapse itself. If you want info on the latter, check out the Quantum Physics Lady whose site is both entertaining and informative. If you want info on the former. . . well, good luck.

As far as the actual EP, we have about 29 minutes of complex, multi-movement compositions. The album is equal parts Gaze and Black, which is to say slow, ethereal segments are offset with aggressive, distorted segments. The album is exceptionally well mixed, and the musicians lean on clear, though heavily echoed arrangements. It is entirely instrumental, with each track exploring a theme reflected in the song title. "Solace I. (Disintegration)" has gradations of solitude and entropy. "Regrets" is angsty, raw, and bruised, though it changes tone by the end of the track-which may be the point. "Quit/Relapse" is declarative and forceful. "In Aether," is ethereal, though it starts off anything but.

Overall, the "Wave Function Collapse" is calculated, cold, and expansive. Laird Barron, horror writer extraordinaire, writes in his novel, "The Croning": "The cold impassive stars didn't bother him so much as the gaps between them did." "Wave Function Collapse" explores the gaps between the stars. Or maybe it explores what the Quantum Physics Lady characterizes as "the transformation from a spread-out wave function to a localized particle." The band themselves make a comment about the "innately destructive nature" of human existence. In fact, the aforementioned lady of physics notes that "in the 1920's and 1930's, some quantum physicists considered the possibility that consciousness collapses the wave function" which seems to give credence to the band's remarks. Hmm.

At any rate, the album takes on gravity as it progresses, though almost all the songs end on a reprieve which invokes the icy vastness intoned in the first track. Call it space, call it the abyss, call it the destruction rendered by sentience. My selection of standout tracks includes the opening and closing tunes, "Solace I. (Disintegration)" and "In Aether." My favorite musical aspect of the album are the drums. Again, not sure who of the four is drummer, but damn.

Altogether, "Wave Function Collapse" is a fascinating album. I wish I knew more about the people who made it and if they are involved in other projects, but I'll take what I can get. I give this bad boy a highly recommended. Hit Bandcamp or your favorite distributer of underground music and check it out. While you're at it, go check out some physics sites and contemplate the thin black line between science and alchemy.