3 out of 5

Label: VHF Records

Produced by: Antti Uusimaki, Daniel O’Sullivan, Vincent De Roguin

A puzzlingly constructed release, Æthenor’s followup to ‘Deep In Ocean Sunk The Lamp Of Light‘ goes without a literary reference in its title – as far as I can tell – but chooses a fitting one: ‘Betimes Black Cloudmasses’ is well-representative of the occasional spates of evil emanations summoned across the album’s two (or three – or four?) tracks. However, whereas Deep had a form of progression across tracks that made its aural traversal an experience, Betimes… drifts. Some sounds / elements certainly carry over, but it can feel like quite separate experiences at the same time, even within a single song, and that makes the album’s effect a bit more limited versus the group’s debut.

The opener – either untitled, or a part one, or just Roman numeral I, depending on the format and how you’re sourcing track names – sets off into pretty ominous realms, with a pulsing undertone almost making for minimalist industrial; a surprisingly grooving song, if you get your groove on alone, in cold caves. Except just before partway into this (on CD / digital) ten-minute track, Æthenor scraps that approach, completely, and goes into kitchen-sink percussion abstractness and ambience. It’s a truly weird break that I can’t really piece together; the abstract bits do lead in to part two, and the preceding groove kinda reappears towards the end of part three, but not really. The “scrapping” feels more legit: like Æthenor started to record an album, then gave up and tried again, but didn’t want to lose the session… I mean, it is a good beat.

Part two is the centerpiece: the explosion of sounds that occurred towards Deep in Ocean’s end happens here, with unlisted instruments (but a long list of guest players – though whether or not they appear on this track specifically, who knows) collabbing for a frantic, extreme sound that carries on for another ten minutes, without overwhelming or losing steam. O’Malley’s SunnO))) is definitely a good reference point, but there’s a brittleness to this – sans direct vocals – that maps to something like Khanate. At the same time, like that opening beat, this is somewhat song-y, where you could conceivably pass it to a more standard metalhead and grab their attentions.

Part three… is jazz. With Ulver’s Kristoffer Rygg doing a growly version of scatting, off in the distance. But the drum fills, and the general noodliness, is very much a jazz template. It doesn’t really build off of part two, or elements form part one; it’s just another direction. And it fades away into more feedback and drone ambience until the album’s conclusion.

This is conceptually as fascinating as the band’s debut, while being much looser in execution. Once you’ve set aside expectations of a long-form experience, it can be just as worthwhile, though this does seem like a band that benefits from such an experience: Betimes Black Cloudmasses kind of fades from memory once its through.