CARVED CROSS – CARVED CROSS LP (Overuse)

Sharing a member with Forbidden Citadel of Spirits, Carved Cross is another raw Black Metal entity from the never-to-be-visited-by me Australian outpost of Tasmania – a perfect breeding ground it would seem for obscure despondency and rampant decay.

Although not quite as rough and ragged as FCOS, Carved Cross’ music – which hereon comprises two unnamed dirges, one considerably longer than the other – remains nevertheless fuzzy and primitive and flagrantly under-produced.

Eschewing any notable deployment of speed or aggression, their second full-length is a fine example of harsh, ambient, forlorn Black Metal weighed down by despair, dejection, solitude and emptiness. What more could one want in these utterly pointless, soul-destroying times?

Evilometer: 666/666