Sol Sistere - S/T

As someone who likes melody in my metal, I admit that it's tricky line to walk to get it right. If metal is, typically, trying to have some kind of edge or aggression to it, too much melody potentially blunts the impact. Particularly in something like black metal, where the lineage of the subgenre can be traced back to a desire for an uncompromising sonic rawness, the endless chatter about whether or not this-or-that (too) melodic black metal band is really black metal is a testament to how challenging it can be to maintain the central appeal of the sound while also writing songs awash in melody. 

All this to say that Sol Sistere's new self-titled album is a rager.  

Sol Sistere are an atmospheric black metal band from Santiago, Chile that remind me of bands like Numenorean, Violet Cold, or Uada. They have that really nice shimmering-while-still-noisy quality that the best bands of this genre have (there are literally two songs on the album called "The Shimmer pt I" and "The Shimmer pt II," as if to put an exclamation point on it), with long stretches of post-rock-like ambience giving way to walls of blast beats and blurry riffage. Through it all, though, Sol Sistere manage to stuff each song to the brim with catchy part after catchy part, making for an incredibly engaging listen, even as the songs stretch to eight and ten minutes long. 

If you like any of the bands I compared them to, this is some really top-notch work, and I look forward to whatever they wind up doing next.