Label: Flowing Downward
Origin: Brisbane, Australia
Tropical storm Vixenta runs aground on an extreme metal soundscape with the ferocity of old-school black metal but the controversial charm of modern blackgaze ambience. Polarity follows beacons from genre-spanning landmark Sunbather with deft chord progressions and gentle interludes, but ultimately wreaks havoc on the breakwaters with relentless blackened sirens and lyrics saturated with inevitable death.
The soothing initial moments of opening track “A Dream in Darkness” belie the impending cyclone of intensity spurred by the kick-snare into a torrential downpour of blasting bass and riptide chords. This oceanic contrast is central to Polarity, as, not two minutes in, the tidal wave of sound dissipates and yields to a softer trickle of notes until an ungodly shriek from lead vocalist Moosh releases a dire strait of doom. Exquisite songwriting from B. allows jam-band-esque oxbows (such as the close of “A Dream in Darkness”) to flow coherently in and around heavier point bars of guitar.
Title track “Polarity” blends these disparities without missing a beat – lead licks douse the song’s vast wasteland, and nimble transitions in percussive tempo vault the entire hurricane of emotions from category one to category five. Lyrically, this track drowns in horror and despair: “There’s no hope left for me, I’m all alone now – smell of blood follows them, as they hunt me down…” Similar sentiments wash ashore further down the album’s coastline, such as on sixth track, “When the Brightest Sun, Casts the Darkest Shadow.” Polarity’s only occurrence of clean vocals juxtaposes against angry growls: “Since your light was dimmed from the curse – that poison from within, how could you let it win?” A beautiful cascade of warm overdriven chords soaks the latter half of the song, merging into an elegant orchestral closing. These instrumental sections revive the initial pensiveness of “Time is Pestilent,” which features more than two minutes of ethereal acoustics before it plummets down an obsidian waterfall of distortion.
Predation (Track 2) https://vixentamusic.bandcamp.com/album/polarity-album
Standout track “Predation” bursts open with a ripping down-tuned riff of deafening glory on the zenith of whitecapped percussion. Insidious hi-hat prestidigitation interplays with a surging lead melody, both nudging for position behind the deadly swell of crushing shrieks. “Wicked Flame” and “Fall of the Divine” float on the choppier surf at times, with chugging power chords treading water in a groove-metal harbor, but both remain firmly within the murk of the Blackgaze Sea. The latter specifically features album-closing vocals and a delirious typhoon of musical intensity before slamming into a seawall of silence. Polarity wanes with acoustic track “A Delusion in Dusk,” musically nodding to the instrumental tracks of The Somberlain and lighting the genre-melting paraffin achieved across the span of the record.
Polarity is a masterclass in thunderous execution and dexterous precision. Vixenta floods the listener with blackened waves of sound, sucking them into the undertow of an inescapable current and drowning them in devastating sorrow.
FFO: Deafheaven (old), Alcest, Ulver (old), Wolves in the Throne Room
BLACK METAL EXTRACT
