In Twilight’s Embrace – Lifeblood (Review)

This is the sixth album from Polish black metallers In Twilight’s Embrace.

Featuring current and ex-members of Bloodthirst and Blaze of Perdition, In Twilight’s Embrace offer up 48 minutes of blackened darkness on Lifeblood.

Lifeblood is aggressive, melodic, and atmospheric. This is ultimately a violent mix of the atmospheric and melodic black metal styles, with much crossover between the two. Both are firmly welded together by the band’s coherent sense of blistering aggression, although there’s certainly more than just aggression here.

The aggression comes from the old-school Scandinavian style, with a chaotic edge in places. Frequently scathingly fast and murderously merciless, In Twilight’s Embrace take no prisoners on their new album.

The melodies are emotive, and sometimes quite catchy even. There’s a feeling of classic rock in some of them, although this is frequently swamped by the band’s blackened assault. Occasionally these rock influences are allowed to become the focus of the music, with everything bent to their will; the album’s title track is a great example of this.

Despite the rampant hostility of much of the music, it’s also layered with atmospheric depth. These aggressive tendencies and engaging melodies simply help to scaffold this, as the band craft music that builds infernal moods well across the seven immersive tracks.

All three aspects of In Twilight’s Embrace do not exist in isolation, of course. They’re all part of the holistic Lifeblood experience, making for a very satisfying and enjoyable black metal record.

Very highly recommended.