Castle of Yester is a solo project from new York that plays a very symphonic, ambient and avant garde form of black metal and this is a review of his self released 2019 album "Echoes From Hobgoblin Ha'".
A sci-fi orientated intro starts off the album while also introducing synths onto the recording which also add in elements of dungeon synth. At times the guitar riffing also captures a lo-fi atmosphere while also mixing symphonic elements into the heavier sections of the songs.
Vocals are mostly grim sounding black metal screams while most of the music goes back to the 90's demo era of the symphonic side of the genre. Blast beats can also be heard in certain sections of the recording along with the songs also adding in a decent mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts and as the album progresses the riffs also start adding in a small amount of melody, out of key power metal style vocals can also be heard briefly on a couple of songs and the music also mixes in some avant garde and ambient elements.
Castle of Yester plays a style of symphonic black metal that goes back to the early demo days of the genre while also mixing in some touches of dungeon synth, ambient and avant garde to create a sound of his own. The production sounds very lo-fi while the lyrics cover the Scottish Yester castle and its beacon of sorcerers.
In my opinion Castle Of Yester is a very great sounding avant garde, ambient symphonic black metal solo project and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Donning Myself In Armor Most Spiritual" "On The Infestation of Goblins In Our Humble Village" and "Encrumbling". 8 out of 10.
https://castle-ov-yester.bandcamp.com/releases
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