Aylwin – Aylwin/Zinvmm Split

Back in December, Aylwin released their first demo, Soil And Cold, and I loved their take on Cascadian black metal. They have now returned, this time joined by the Spanish ambient black metal band, Zinvmm.

There are six tracks on this album and Aylwin play the first five. If you've listened to their first demo then you'll be glad to discover that their style has remained largely unchanged. The drums have a raw sound to them and although the snare is rather high in the mix, they're played with amazing skill and vigor, frequently switching between mid-paced beats and rapid blast beats. The vocals are still incredibly raw and nasty, as they're wrapped in a cloud of corrosive distortion. The guitars are the complete opposite. Whereas the vocals are ugly and vicious, the guitars are beautiful and sorrowful. Of course, they still play the rhythmic riffs that are commonplace in Cascadian black metal, but they also play these long, drawn-out high-pitched chords that sound reminiscent of the kind of depressive black metal Austere played. They also play some atmospheric keyboards that blend into the music and don't sound out of place at all.

The last song is played by Zinvmm, and it's thirteen minutes long. To be honest, I've never listened to Zinvmm before this, so I had no idea what to expect. The song begins with bagpipes, I think. I'm not all that familiar with folk instruments. About a minute later, they are joined by marching drums with lots of fills. They are later joined by the clanging of bells before it all reaches a crescendo around the five and a half minute mark. It then enters this part that has a great deal of droning horns with some more drums pounding in the background. After a few minutes of this, we return to the bagpipes, which then leads to this climax of ground-trembling drums accompanied by barking dogs. (I think. That's what they sound like, at least.) It all ends with the sound of a gong. To be honest, this isn't really my kind of music, but I do appreciate the band's musical skill.

Overall, this was a great split. If you love Cascadian black metal then you'll love Aylwin, and if you love folk ambient stuff then you'll love Zinvmm. You can download this split for free off of Aylwin's bandcamp page.