Review Summary: A long, black abyss into nothingness...
Arizmenda is a band that I have admired for many years. Juan Cabello, the man behind the madness, has been churning out quality black metal since the late-2000's, entrancing listeners with his psychedelic backdrops and fuzzy walls of riffs. His first three albums are some of the best USBM has to offer and they helped to pioneer a sound that was different from the Cascadian scene that was also happening at the same time. Arizmenda was part of the Crepúsculo Negro label, along with bands like Axeman and Volahn, and they pushed a darker, more macabre message than bands like Ash Borer and Wolves in the Throne Room.
Spiders Lust in the Dungeon's Dust is Arizmenda's sixth full-length album and is really a return to form after one album that was plain mediocre and another one that was decent, but still not one of his strongest efforts. This album brings back all the divine suffocation that can be felt throughout his first three classics. The atmosphere here is dreary as hell, Juan has never been opposed to throwing in some DSBM horror theatrics with whirling howls and riffs that feel like a dark cloud. The opening track, ‘Porcelain Dolls With Porcelain Souls’, may be the best opener on an Arizmenda album with its graveyard atmosphere and the psychotropic riffs that make your mind drift. The solo is 60s-psychedelic to the core and the reverb flows over you like a good acid trip.
The production on this album is absolutely perfect. This band has always had a knack for bordering on being almost too raw, yet the hazy atmospheres have always given the spaced-out riffs room to breathe. With the previous two albums, the production was too thin and everything sounded muffled because it was just too clean for what this band likes to do. The riffs are definitely at the forefront here with the ghoulish vocals and hypnotic drums more in the background, but it's a perfect tradeoff. Atmospheric black metal is, after all, about lulling the listener into a comatose state and this album certainly succeeds in that regard.
All six of these tracks are a journey on their own, but it all ties in together so perfectly. The shortest song here is 8 minutes and the longest is over the 16 minute mark. This album isn't made to be listened to once and thrown to the side. It's an expedition to the deepest, darkest part of your mind. To be honest, it's kind of like an hour long, violent yet sedating psychological horror movie. The riffs twist and turn around every corner and the vocals and rhythm of the foggy drumming whisk you away into another world like Nosferatu putting his prospective victim under his spell. If you like your black metal with a hypnotic, cinematic feel,
Spiders Lust in the Dungeon's Dust is an album you'll definitely want to check out soon.
