Atmospheric black metal is a genre that goes unnoticed by many metal fans, despite being one of the best sub-genres that metal has to offer. Bands like Motherwood show exactly what the genre has to offer. Their style relies less on emotion, and more on building an amazing atmosphere, as shown on their debut, self-titled album. “Sadness” kicks off this album, with a softer style of black metal, that they use to their advantage to create atmosphere that will stay for the whole album. “Despair” is a frantic track, and manages to bounce between heavy and soft sections while maintaining chaos.
The sound of waves open up “Solitude”, which boasts some really interesting guitar work, and some top notch writing. “Coldness” begins very fast, and uses the music to build a sense of loneliness, which demonstrates how effective is this band is at using atmosphere. “Trauma” features a really nice riff, and introduces a really dark tone which adds some variation to the style used. The tone continues on “Faithlessness”, and this song also features a deeper vocal register, adding more variation. “Fear” is a six minute instrumental, and an amazing way to end the album, as it shows the band can do so much without vocals. This album is very good. If you like black metal in any form, this is one that shouldn’t be missed.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Sam Hookom
