Evilfeast - Elegies of the Stellar Wind (2017)^{Release ID: 12590}

Evilfeast is a solo project of Polish multi-instrumentalist Jakub Grzywacz, who goes by the pseudonym of GrimSpirit. The project has been going since 1996, when it was then known as Darkfeast (changing name in '98) so he has some credibility as a relatively early adopter of the atmospheric black metal creed and not just some random bandwagon-jumper. So, I thought I hadn't listened to Evilfeast before and when it was pointed out that indeed I had, I still had no great recollection of the event. Not exactly a ringing endorsement I think you will agree. However, it says more about my insatiable appetite for listening to more and more unfamiliar metal albums and a resulting lack of retention of any but the most excellent (or utterly terrible), than it does about the quality of the release in question. This is because Elegies of the Stellar Wind is, in fact, a pretty decent slab of black metal with a pronounced symphonic element influenced by none less than the mighty Emperor, I would suggest. Although the keyboards are fundamental to the album's sound, it still feels like it sits more within the sphere of atmospheric rather than symphonic black metal because, although the synth sound can be traced back to Ihsahn & co, it isn't as bombastic as the Black Wizards, but rather it feels like it is heralding the majesty of the natural world rather than the machinations and achievements of powerful men.

The black metal component is generally of the uptempo, quite savage-sounding, thinly-produced type that harks back to a previous black metal age and doesn't contain the lushness of more recent atmospheric black metal efforts, but that feels no less effective for it. I must admit I like it's quite raw black metal stylings, whilst the keyboards are incorporated effectively and even though they have a significant presence they still work well in tandem with the riffing. It never really attains the hypnotic transcendence that the absolute top-tier atmospheric black metal releases achieve and, in truth, it probably feels a little more down-to-earth as a result, but whilst these ham-fisted attempts at describing Evilfeast's sound make it feel like it won't work, it absolutely does, it's just that it's not exactly what you would necessarily expect.

Polish one-man black act Evilfeast & I first crossed paths back in 2009 when I gave lone contributor GrimSpirit's 2008 third full-length "Lost Horizons of Wisdom" a few listens & really enjoyed it too. This experience would not only see me experimenting with some of Evilfeast's other releases & finding them all to be worth hearing but it would also see me asking myself the obvious question: What exactly IS an "evilfeast"? Is it the food that's evil or the patrons at said feast? If not the food or the techniques used to eat said food then I'd have to question the relevance of calling it an evilfeast actually but anyway... moving right along... I come into "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" (GrimSpirit's fifth album under the Evilfeast moniker) with some experience with both this work & most of his other releases although I've never gotten around to rating or reviewing any of them which seems to be a common theme these days given my self-imposed rules around how & what I review.

Now, I'm gonna be open about the mistake I made coming into this revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind"; an album that a remembered quite enjoying. You see, I chucked it on straight after my third straight listen to our Rollins Band feature release "The End of Silence" which is a much heavier & more intense record. Evilfeast's effort seemed to sound a little lacklustre in comparison to be honest & I started to think that I might have over-stated the level of appeal the album had offered me in the past. The intentionally lo-fi production job certainly contributed to that with the guitars sounding far too distant during the sections where they're isolated in the mix & the vocals sitting too far back in the mix for the most part too which I'm guessing was intentional. The pretty regular use of symphonics saw me recoiling a bit as well as I've never been the biggest fan of the more keyboard-driven black metal model but a couple more listens saw "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" opening up a bit & I ended up finding myself getting a fair bit of enjoyment out of most of it.

Evilfeast's sound is often compared with the more prominent one-man atmosheric black metal acts but I feel that an artist like Burzum offered a much darker & colder package than the one we get here. The keyboards are used in a trancier fashion & the tempos are often pushed into faster territory which gives Evilfeast a lighter feel, even though the influence of the early Emperor releases is obvious at times. In fact, the use of the "atmospheric black metal" tag is actually a little questionable with a lot of this material as some of it would fit a touch better under the symphonic black metal or conventional black metal tags but I think it's the production & general aesthetic that keeps people reaching for the atmospheric variety when describing the album. I wouldn't say that Evilfeast are offering anything terribly fresh or original here though & artists like Sweden's Bekëth Nexëhmü, Switzerland's Paysage d'Hiver & Greece's Nocternity are probably a pretty good gauge of what you should expect.

I think my struggles with my initial revisit of "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" were definitely contributed to by the decision to kick the tracklisting off with the piece that offers me the least in the way of appeal with twelve-minute opener "The Second Baptism... Shores in Fire & Ice" ending up being a bit of a struggle. That kinda set me into a negative mindset from the start & it wasn't until I restarted the album from a different starting point on my drive home from work that I found that I could reset my expectations & really dig into the sounds on offer. I still can't say that I genuinely love anything that Evilfeast have to offer here but the vast majority of it is pretty enjoyable. It's just that there's always one or two elements of each of the six lengthy pieces that sees my smile turning upside down & my issues with the production & the use of simplistic drum programming probably don't help either. Unsurprisingly, it's the darker & more brutal moments that work best for me & they usually come without the bombastic keyboard which helps too.

If I draw back on my past experiences with Evilfeast I'd have to suggest that "Elegies of the Stellar Wind" is one of his better records although it doesn't really sit in my personal black metal wheel-house. Thankfully I managed to accept that fairly early on which enabled me to simply try to enjoy the ride which has worked pretty well for the most part. I definitely needed a couple of listens to get into Evilfeast's sound though so if you experience similar struggles upon your first spin then I'd urge you to have a bit of faith that things will slip into place with repeat listens. I'd also recommend that you draw upon the alternate meaning for the word "stellar" when reading the album title (e.g. "a stellar cast had been assembled") because it makes for a few chuckles if you're not one of those kvlt elitist black metal types.