Confusion Gate [LP], Yellow Eyes, Vinyl

Yellow Eyes present their seventh full-length album, Confusion Gate, blood relative of 2023's Master's Murmur.In their 15th year, Yellow Eyes push their distinctive style of Black Metal a step further. Prominently displayed is their signature capacity for contrast: colorful, unpredictable melody with violent power, dissonance with anthemic beauty, harshness with warmth, impulsivity with patience. But this album, the band's longest yet, is full of secrets. Confusion Gate, though a singular release that stands entirely on it's own, toys with the listener by quoting abstractly from it's sister album Master's Murmur, transfiguring cryptic industrial folk into howling Black Metal. Unexpectedly veering into a rephrased melody or lyric, or presenting a familiar idea upside down, Confusion Gate hides it's deceptions in plain sight.Compositional and textural experiments abound. A new emphasis on folkloric simplicity and visceral sadness, as well as ethereal ornamentations of synth and medieval instruments, serve as staging grounds for some of Yellow Eyes's most haunting material to date.Will Skarstad's impassioned vocal performance is tarnished, doomed, and older, giving threat to the mythos of his brother Sam's lyrics.Guided by a chorus of voices, from the whispered false comforts of the wraith "widow" to the utterances of the master himself at the entrance of the gate, Yellow Eyes trace an epic journey from the "pine-filth" of the lowlands to the eerie meadow at the mountain's summit.The third presence that stalks Confusion Gate is also it's most sinister- time itself. Perhaps this release from the old hands in Yellow Eyes is actually something of an admission. Perhaps they themselves have caught a first glimpse of the face on the mountain.