After a time being a noisy and nasty form of Metal (just a fusion of influences of MOTÖRHEAD, JUDAS PRIEST and early Punk Rock bands as SEX PISTOLS), Black Metal came to evolve and gain a personal form of being played. Leaving all the polemics aside, names as BATHORY, SARCÓFAGO, MAYHEM, BURZUM, ROTTING CHRIST, EMPEROR and others are cornerstones for the genre would be after the coming of the Second Wave of Black Metal in the early days of the 90's. There were many experimental forms of music in the genre coexisting on those days, and one of them isn't as usual as it was: the albums with only one song. And it's found on "Chapter IV - Tying Thy Noose of Rusted Chain", the new album of the North American trio SMOTHER.

The band works on a form of Black Metal that's usually called as Atmospheric Black Metal or Ambient Black Metal. The trio's work is based on an Old School form of the genre, having that same putrid and organic feeling that fills the song with a nasty set of funereal ambiences and with a massive darkened energy. It's a form of music that was done many times in the past (and that's still used today), with them using a personal approach that is in the core of North American Black Metal School. Yes, it's good, indeed. When dealing with an Old School genre, one must have in mind that the sonority can follow the same model used on the past, and that's what one will find on "Chapter IV - Tying Thy Noose of Rusted Chain": it's abrasive, rough and nasty, to create that morbid organic sound feeling on the fans. It's good and fits on the band's musical ideas.

As a band using an old musical format, one can have in mind that the technical aspect isn't overloaded, but "Chapter IV - Tying Thy Noose of Rusted Chain" is a song filled with many different rhythms and ideas, and within its 40 minutes, many different elements and contrasts can be found, as many different songs were fused in only one. So the experience isn't as boring as one can think (only for those that can't stand the experience of hearing long songs). Obviously, "Chapter IV - Tying Thy Noose of Rusted Chain" isn't a perfect release, but it states that SMOTHER is a good name of the genre, indeed.