Instinct

S/T

Heidenwut Productions 2008

Ambient black metal with a heathenish spirit is the vibe put out on the self-titled second album from the UK's Instinct.  A misanthropic atmosphere pervades all three of the tracks found on the album.  Imagine a rawer, more animistic version of what Xasthur is doing these days.  Misanthropy Until Regression Through Nature stalks forward behind walls of guitars with tingling notes poking out of the dense clouds like dismal rays of light through an overcast sky.  Towards the end of the first track some really somber and minimalist guitar tones cause sorrow to well up from internal depths.  The second song, To A New Dawn Shining With Purity has blood chilling melodies and vocal howls echoing through foggy woodlands.  Later bestial vocals call out as a wandering spirit frozen and shivering within those mist enshrouded forests.  Track three, Elemental Purification was recorded separately and the production qualities show as they are more muffled compared to the other two songs.  The song also is faster paced and the guitars are like buzzing saws.  Keyboards accentuate the song's transition from faster black metal to more down-tempo brooding atmospheres.  The album crawls in at 43 minutes in length with each song being fairly lengthy.  The guitars are raw and fuzzed out which enhances the smothering atmosphere of the compositions.  Instinct's new album is very conducive to meditation and dwelling on all things enshrouded in sorrow and ruin.  While not earth shattering in its originality, the album is certainly successful in achieving suicidal and despondent moods.  And in that regards I view it as a triumph.