Think of New South Wales, Australia, and the image conjures up thoughts of sun, sand, and surfing. Now despair, darkness, and misery will also feature, not really an ad for Aussie tourism board. ILL OMEN is based in NSW; a solo project that has released many demos with "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" being ILL OMEN's second full length release. Atmospheric Black Metal is an interesting beast. It seems to be measured on under production, long intros and the maximum amount of noise, the minimum amount of people can make. So far, ILL OMEN's "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" is already ticking boxes.

The 12 songs on "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" are named "Abhorrence I - XI" which instantly removes any need for discussion around catchy, punchy titles, and allows us to get straight into the nitty gritty. "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" isn't going replace your usual "Get the party started" album, not by a long shot. But it will certainly be at home filed in the "Songs to destroy the world by" section of your collection. "Abhorrence I" starts slowly with a low drone of white noise that steadily builds into crescendo of darkness. Its sound is pretty non-descript in actual fact, just a barrage of Black Metal noise, no tempo changes, no dominating vocals, just a constant drone of the uncomfortable. "Abhorrence II" sees the vocals step up to just over a whisper, as the uncomfortableness continues, there's some solid drumming which does break up the monotonous sound of mayhem a little. "Abhorrence III & IV" continue the drive down despair lane, with the addition of some chamber chanting, but nothing that really takes hold to move "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" forward.

The following eight songs "Abhorrence V - IIX" do very little differently to the first four. The difference between good and bad Black metal is measured by an albums darkness. When it is done properly, good Black Metal is the equivalent of sitting alone on a throne in the center of a dark cavern in the forest. The caverns tightly fitted, heavy wooden door blocks any outside distractions, and the only flickers of light in the cavern come from the embers of a dying fire. On the other hand, when Black Metal is done badly, you may as well throw the cavern door open, drag the throne outside and bath in the Aussie sun on the caverns patio with a Mojito. Unfortunately, for this album the sun is shining brightly. I'm not saying this album doesn't need to heard, because every album deserves a listen. I just wonder how many listens "Enthroning the Bonds of Abhorrence" will actually get.