Verwoed – The Mother (Review)

This is the second album from Dutch black metal solo act Verwoed.

Drawn in by the evocative cover art, I approached The Mother with expectations of dark splendour and vicious aggression. I soon found more than I had bargained for, as the artist behind Verwoed took me on a multifaceted 44-minute journey into the sort of black metal waters that are normally best avoided due to how vibrant, otherworldly, and treacherous they are.

I became quickly entranced by The Mother‘s grasp of psychedelic depth and its ability to craft harrowing atmosphere. The music’s intricacies called to me intimately, promising supernatural delights if I only gave myself over to the Vermoed experience completely. I gladly surrendered, letting the music’s textured embrace crush me to its richly entangled shores.

I allowed myself to sink beneath the turbulent waves, exploring the constantly changing worldscape that The Mother allows to spawn from its fertile gorges. I then went further, deeper into Vermoed’s individual and atypical expression of black metal. At these gloomy depths there are few fellow travellers to interfere with the path of The Mother‘s musical journey, so it ranges widely, unfettered by blackened convention.

Deeper into the abyss I went, finally arriving at the lowest point, where the strangest and most fantastical of the curious life forms dwell. My skin corrupting, my mind eroding, my body slowly being crushed by the spectral pressure; The Mother cared not, but continued to blossom into ever new shapes and warped forms evolved to enrapture and debase.

The Mother offers a beguiling, insidious journey, one designed to ensnare the unwary and feast upon their essence. None will survive its delights, but oh what colours you will see as you descend!