Friday, December 12, 2008

En Hiver - OUT NOW!!!


Released on November 26th by Gelid Glacier Records on CD (limited to 200), and by Kapustin Yar Records on cassette (limited to 30).

The new album spans over 40 minutes. Frozen dark ambient braided with intense black metal. It's definably a step up from the debut album, A Dark Serenity.

The album is available for a full stream on last.fm

For more info:
http://gelidglacierrecords.vstore.ca/
http://www.myspace.com/tomhetband
http://www.myspace.com/gelidglacier

Here's a review of the album:
En Hiver is the new full-length from the California based ambient black metal project Tomhet. Released on Gelid Glacier Records and Kapustin Yar Records, these five tracks are the work of Jonathan who has been in several bands including Morke, Mortuary/Mortuary Media, Countess Bathory & Verfallen. Tomhet's music isn't for the faint of heart and at times can be quite depressing and suffocating. Jonathan combines droning keyboard passages and acoustic guitar with blasting black metal and shrieking vocals to take your mind on a terrifying journey. The album is mainly unsettling dark ambient except for the last half of the opener "Trenches" and most of the third track "Autumn", which is where the black metal comes in. On "En Hiver", Jon proves that he's as proficient in playing slow and droning atmospheric music as he is playing hyperspeed black metal. I don't listen to a lot of ambient black metal but this seems to be a perfect example of what it should sound like. My only complaint might be the drum machine but after listening to the album a few times I think it adds to the freezing cold feeling Tomhet's music provokes. "En Hiver" is an album that should be an interesting listen for anyone into dark, depressing ambient black metal.
- Ancient Death WebZine