Prosaic (Profound Lore Records) is the latest release from the impressive solo Black Metal project, Mizmor. Hailing from the US Pacific Northwest and recorded in multi-instrumentalist A.L.N’s home studio in Portland Oregon, the record follows last year’s Wilts End EP, and Long-Players Cairn in 2019 and Yodh in 2016, which also received a live release following a rare performance recorded at the prestigious 2018 Roadburn Festival.

Prosaic delivers four new tracks of typically harrowing Black Metal infused with gloomy funeral doom, with A.L.N masterfully sculpting each track to deliver an intriguing journey for the listener over songs that typically come in well over the ten-minute mark, allowing to the time to fully express his art throughout each composition. 

‘Only An Expanse’ opens with a wretched scream and down-tuned tremolo riffing with a lo-fi kind of fuzz on the production. Tortured vocals float over the marching background percussion, depressingly delivered in a style that pays homage to the Norwegian scene of thirty years ago. A simple repeating riff induces hypnotic repetition before dropping into a slow dirge with the vocals switching to a subterranean guttural style, slowly building back into a blackened flurry. 

The track closes out with an isolated hazy guitar melting into the doomy intro of ‘No Place To Arrive,’ as A.L.N. delivers the line “This is my death” with blood-curdling grit, as a slow and agonising riff ponders in a distorted fog. In moments, the artist is able to conjure pure demonic terror with his vocal style which is not for the faint-hearted, before the track flows back in blackened waters. On ‘Anything But’ an intro of swirling guitars and spoken words give way to another tragic scream as the percussion and bass drops. And Mizmor once again enters black metal mode, before slowing back down with a chugging riff and an agonising vocal drawl, which will appeal to admirers of Panzerfaust and the like. 

A sumptuous acoustic guitar outro gives way to ‘Acceptance’ and more doomy-sludge, as darkness personified in sound burns slowly before the tremolo picking brings the music back into a phrenetic turmoil, as the song peaks before coming full circle and returning to the mire. The arrangement and patterns of music created by Mizmor flow eloquently throughout the release, and this is something I would certainly recommend wrapping your ears around if you find yourself in the mood for something darkly melancholic. 

Buy the album here:

https://mizmor.bandcamp.com/album/prosaic-2

8 / 10

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