Wyrgher do an excellent job reinforcing and enhancing the otherworldliness of their musical work. Electronic elements are a staple in much of black metal as it tends towards dungeon synth, but here they have a dark ambient vibe. A muffled, resonant rumble floods in. Scattered fragments of incoherent, distorted, disturbing half-speech fade in and out. Vocal reverb, chimes, and whistles scatter themselves and echo. This is combined with a proclivity for heavy atmosphere that takes most tracks to passages of stripped-back, menacing ambience. The remaining instrumentation slides fluidly between black and death metal, taking, for the main, the route of semi-dissonant ethereality à la Akhlys or Ars Magna Umbrae, but with tighter song structure. Melody is there, but often suppressed, subtle, and sinister, the few moments of true harmonic melodicism thus coming as sudden uplifting surges (“Supreme Leader of a Dying Star,” “Destroyer of the Promethean Path,” “Solar Harvest,” title track). Drums beat appropriately warlike marches, and tumble into blastbeats and rolls with the energy of a high-powered spacecraft, before they too settle into restless, scattered tapping in those moments of void-like atmosphere.
There are parts of this album that so combine these elements as to produce something genuinely unique and incredibly compelling. The pinnacle, and best cut of the bunch, is “Supreme Leader of a Dying Star.” The drama in the way it evolves, and the rushing crescendos of that defining, urgent riff and clustered cries1 are nothing short of magnificent. “Destroyer…” similarly impresses with its grooves effortlessly escalating to grandeur and its tremolos likewise threading affective lines between disharmony and minor melodicism. The title track also makes for an assertive finale. What makes them so good is not just their drama, and their power, but also how they manage to incorporate reverb and synth in a way that doesn’t feel affected or pointless. Quite the opposite: these add dimensions of depth and enveloping intrigue that run seamlessly into the dark tone of the metal and amplify its gravity.
Yet, not all is quite as stellar. They are by no means bad, just less potent. This feels mainly due to excessive meandering with comparatively little punch (“Solar Harvest,” “The Weeping of a Blazing Rock”), though both of these do have moments of glory. Those above-mentioned best tracks could do with a bit of a trim, too, just to sharpen their edges. Many, like myself, won’t be bothered by their epic span, though. The most questionable choice is near-four-minute instrumental “Summoning the Meteoric Titans,” whose ominously rumbling, clattering hum is the most likely candidate for skips on repeat listens. That being said, it is incredibly unsettling, particularly once the garbled voices come in to add yet more tension to the discordant notes. It builds tension for the album’s second half, and encompasses that alien essence. In these respects, it is at the very least, not pointless, even if odd.
Panspermic Warlords has more hits than misses. Its idiosyncrasies work in favor of its allure, rather than to the detriment of its enjoyability—most of the time anyway. It stamps Wyrgher with an intriguing identity and communicates its concept well. Not to mention that very cool cover, which could just as well serve as concept art for a sci-fi horror epic. Panspermic Warlord’s substance lives up to that strange, grand architecture with a mostly captivating atmospheric extreme metal that has great potential to grow on its listeners, myself included.
Rating: Good!
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: bandcamp | facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 28th, 2023
