Artist: Undivine Essence/Natures Elements
Title: New Shape/IPOS
Type: Split EP
Label: Unsigned

This nicely packaged digipak split EP comes all the way from Israel, which is where these two bands are based. The first two tracks belong to Undivine Essence, who play a style of black metal that seems to be very nature inspired. ‘Crimson Sky’ is an epic opening track at almost ten minutes in length, and sends a hypnotic guitar melody jangling in over a thick, resonant bass line that provides a dark foundation. There’s a strong melancholic feel to this one, which I find rather transfixing and the sudden keyboard flourishes add a crepuscular air of mysticism to things. ‘New Shape’ quite literally does take on a new shape as it rollicks in with a noisy and destructive punked up riff, while the drums bash away in unison. Some demonic gurgling breaks things up and then it returns and trots along with a staccato rhythm below a vocal duet that intertwines clean tones with a harsh rasp. This band have a great sound and are personally my favourite of the two and I hope to hear more from these in future.

Nature’s Elements continue the nature vibe, although it doesn’t come across quite as well as the previous band. There’s no doubt that these have a sound that is much rawer and absolutely more ferocious and perhaps lovers of more traditional, atavistic black metal will dig this more. It begins with quite an intriguing introduction entitled ‘Untitled 16’ which sounds a bit like a xylophone or a similar instrument, before ‘I.P.O.S’ blares in with fierce clattering drums and vehement guitars. Their original vocalist named Ipos committed suicide in 2005, so I suspect this could in some way be a tribute to him. The track slows to a mid-pace and an angry sounding guitar comes in, while final track ‘Odhin’ follows a similar pattern, racing ahead with full on speed and aggression and then mixing in some slower, more sinister passages.

Both of these bands have their strong points, and despite the fact they have quite different styles they have enough similarity to make this split not sound too disjointed. Undivine Essence are especially promising, and this is certainly worth your attention.

http://www.myspace.com/undivineessence
http://www.myspace.com/natureselements