This is the third album from Portuguese black metal band Monte Penumbra.
It’s been eleven years (!) since I last caught up with Monte Penumbra on Heirloom of Sullen Fall, so a reunion is long overdue. Containing 41 minutes of new material, Austere Dawning offers us a journey into dissonant black metal darkness.
It’s a grim and foreboding pathway that reveals itself, shrouded in enveloping mists and assailed by esoteric sounds. It’s simultaneously violent and atmospheric, bringing ordered chaos to the world in the form of seven harsh invocations. The obvious reference points for Austere Dawning are Deathspell Omega and the dissonant Icelandic scene. Monte Penumbra hold their own though within this fierce arena, and Austere Dawning more than earns the right to exist on its own clawed merits.
The music exudes malevolent intent as it slithers and writhes through the underworld with lethal intensity. It is cold and malignant, driven by an uncaring dissonance that is backed up by tight, sharp riffs. At times it’s a hyperactive affair, erupting in serrated riffs before uncaringly discarding them for the next. At other times though it’s more considered and restrained, building structures that tell a tale of suffering as they unfold into oblivion.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 