Origin: Huesca, Aragon, Spain 🇪🇸
Genre: Black Metal
It was upon the dawning of the year 1995 when Spain’s Ouija were summoned from some desolate Gehinnom into our existence – the realm of the living where we mortals wallow in existential dread. And ever since, through the harnessing of evil energy and the honing of their black craft, Ouija have – despite their limited catalogue – proven to be one of the European black metal scene’s most obscure yet influential projects. Now, in the wake of plague and as the Earth bitterly turns in dismay of its own miserable inhabitants, Ouija are once again, and not-so-quietly this time, casting from some mythical vantage their rueful emanations. On December 26, 2022, the scourge of La Piel de Toro unleashed its latest curse, “Fathomless Hysteros” via the nefarious Negra Nit.
What you’re in store for with “Fathomless Hysteros” is the kind of genuine BM experience that most mainstream black metal bands out there are incapable of providing. After all, true black metal’s place is beneath the surface; within the underground where integrity and artfulness stand paramount. And its from the peak season of those ancient days – the height of the second coming – where the spirit of this record can be found. Time to time and from within each slick tremolo riff and every steamrolling double-bass current a deja-vu experience to be had, as one can’t help but be loosely reminded of the mighty Emperor and “Into the Nightside Eclipse” or Sacramentum’s “Far Away From the Sun”. But the nostalgia stops there. It’s through a more deadly accurate and powerful piece of weaponry that Ouija are concentrating their vision. A contemporary touch to compliment the sheer level of adeptness put on display during the title-track and deadlier killing methods implemented in accordance with others like the Bathory and Dissection-worshipping “I See You Without Eyes”. Anti-cosmic vibes and the density of the entire universe as atmosphere for every epic album cut.
Brutal yet refined and melodic at some points, but ultimately just a solid example of what modern black metal should sound like. Epic compositions are the name of the game. Pretty much every second of recording space utilized wisely and even indulged in as superlatives like the rich leads in “Adversary” take you back to the “Reinkaos” days of “Black Dragon” and “Maha-Kali”. A streamlined approach to production/mixing has yielded a tightly-knit tapestry of sound interwoven with somewhat rigid components – air tight and irradiant – all phases resonating shallow tonality that fails to adequately fill the album’s vast and cavernous atmosphere. I feel like a little more malleability would’ve better complimented some of the record’s melodic parts and better filled some of the gaps.
More black metal to soundtrack the end of days here on Earth and to foreshadow a desolate anti-cosmic future for the rest of the universe. Crafted with the worst intentions and another catalytic recording to bring forth Armageddon. The end of everything is at hand! And the fathomlessness of an incomprehensibly devoid future awaits…
8/10
Experience “Fathomless Hysteros” by Ouija right here as presented by Black Metal Promotion:
~Jeger
