The Negative Bias / Golden Dawn ‎"The Temple Of Cruel Empathy..." Split CD Digipack

Séance Records presents a new split release between two forces of Austrian Black Metal, The Negative Bias & Golden Dawn to be released April 6th 2018

A union of grandiose Austrian Black Metal! The Negative Bias channels a transcendental nightmare from the deepest dark space revealing astral atmospheric black metal of a higher order. This is symphonic Black Metal in all of its sinister majesty without sounding too nostalgic but aspiring to create a modernist bleak vision with complex songwriting and brooding, gritty disdain. Coupled with the legendary Golden Dawn, active since 1992 and linked with bands such as Abigor, Pazuzu etc. is inspired by shamanism, lucid dreaming and personal experiences with astral travel. The music is a rich tapestry of creativity melding symphonic black metal and dungeon synth with dynamic and complex compositions which are bombastic and majestic whilst never forsaking their raw edge, or Black Metal roots. The culmination of the mutual collaboration is a special split release featuring two lengthy songs, ‘The Temple of Cruel Empathy’ by The Negative Bias and Golden Dawn’s previously unreleased, ‘Lunar Serpent’. Released in a special digipak edition & limited to only 500 copies

Having just finished a review for the newest full length of ambient/space black metal commando The Negative Bias I went on to check out their previous work. In 2018 the band released a split EP together with one-man band Golden Dawn. While each of them is contributing only one song both of those have a running time of more than eleven minutes so you get enough value for your money.
This EP is horrifying, harrowing and darkening but also inherits a certain beauty and glimmers of hope. It reminds me of some classics, but it’s more gloomy and more frowzy than most of its peers. It has atmospheric, calm, slow passages as well as faster sections. The guitar layers are thick requiring multiples listens to appreciate the true beauty of this songs. From the acoustic pieces to clean, suffocating guitar melodies to melancholic leads to the dirty, infernal riffs - the atmosphere in this EP will suck you in and not let go until the last second.
The crawling bleakness and the haunting harmonies building the backbone to the heavy instrumentation are a very important factor to the overall picture that is painted on this record. While the tempo is kept in mid-tempo most of the time there are some speedier and intense but also spacey sections. The songwriting is great with some well-placed tempo changes giving the whole album a great flow. Both bands have a fantastic talent for creating haunting and beautiful melodies that feel melancholic and depressive but also offer a glimmer of hope at the same time. They have worked with the interaction of musky moments and lighter pieces and have melted all those elements into one great piece of sinister and eerie art. The ambient soundscapes dwelling in the dark build a fantastic and gloomy atmosphere
Both acts have chosen to go for a clear and modern production perfectly fitting the music by making each detail sound crystal clear. It was a great choice to combine those two bands and songs as they build a very harmonic duo. Each fan of atmospheric black metal should give this EP (also released as digipack) a try.

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