Ter Ziele wears its heart on its sleeve on debut album Embodiment of Death. Through five tracks of doom laden atmospheric post-metal the four piece from the Netherlands swoon, rage and power through emotional introspection in a passionate outpouring. Flirting between genres, Embodiment of Death is a harrowing, cathartic and wondrous experience.The more that it is consumed the deeper its claws dredge the soul.
One great strength of Embodiment of Death is the use of space. Notes are often rung out, time is never a constraint, songs can build and fall but the spatial use is perfect here. However space and pace don’t mean a lack of weight. From early on in ‘The Separation Of Body and Soul’ this becomes apparent as the vocals rage against the slowly doomy musicianship but as they coalesce the vocals seem to draw some urgency from the guitar pattern. The vocal display throughout is quite phenomenal.
Amongst the hefty weight of the burden, not everything is downtempo. ‘Of Noumenon Reality’ is dripping with blackgaze waves and ‘This Mortal Coil’ takes that and runs further into the realms of post-black with some wonderful blast beats and an injection of pass. All these things carry a feeling of exasperation and hopelessness which espouse throughout the emotive pained screams and while dark the relief is palpable as the band carries those feelings from beginning to end and closing track ‘As Long As I Breathe, I Am To Suffer’ is a beautiful example with its slow glacial pace but its emotional impact.
Ter Ziele has created a wondrous blend of doom and post-metal which drives an emotional battle from the depths of pain to the high of a screaming crescendoing release. Embodiment of Death is just wonderful from end to end, even on repeat.
