It seems that 2022 is already an ambitious year for album releases and today I bring you a very unique and almost hard to describe release to start this year off with. Mur is a solo project of Cam Sather and Cut The Rivers Vein is the fourth full length and first in six years from Cam since 2016’s Heartworn. Mur mixes and blurs the lines between black metal, doom metal, death metal, drone and even a little folk to create music that is both melodic and captivating while bringing in a void of chaotic chemistry into these song structures. The production adds a dark and heavy atmosphere to the bellowing growls, chaotic time signatures, and well organized structure behind this album.
Tracks like “O’palesce” and “Breach & Bitter” stand out as the most powerful examples of the alchemaic mixtures of sound that Mur has summoned. The droning guitar rhythms along with the somber and melancholic moments really bring a surprisingly opaque element to this release. “A Powerful, Uneasy Feeling” is an added touch that stands out as being the more melodic breather towards the album’s closing. Cut The Rivers Vein is a damn good album and is a great example of not letting genres be defined and just letting the music flow and speak for itself.
Whether you are a fan of death metal, funeral doom, black metal, drone or just metal in general, this release has something for everyone. There are relentless black metal riffs and blasts, there are droning and sludgy doom metal moments and there are also melodic and calming folky breathers as well and that is what makes this album stand out above the rest and it is only January. I highly recommend giving Cut The Rivers Vein by Mur a listen, I’m positive it will have a lasting impression on any metal connoisseur.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Neil Andersen
