Dhampyr: Oceanclots

Weird, wild and wonderful missives from the abyss

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A dhampyr is the offspring of a vampire and a human being: a hypothetical crime against nature that could hardly be more fitting for this deviant black metal project from the equally fitting locale of Killingly in Connecticut, USA.

For anyone weakened by the deluge of blackened shoegazers that glide serenely in the wake of Alcest and Deafheaven, Dhampyr’s intuitive dismantling of that whole zeitgeist-fondling conceit is a macabre joy to behold.

Oceanclots sounds wonderfully unfamiliar, its rolling waves of claustrophobic ambience and harrowing white noise aggressively leaching all the soft colours and cosiness from the post-black metal blueprint and replacing them with the distant shriek of agitated demons.

There are enough warped and electrifying ideas frothing away within Waltz Of The Salivating Avalanche and Dissipate, My Beloved to more than satisfy fans of the deeply weird, but this is far more than just another slab of blackened surrealism.

An authentic bad trip through alien landscapes and the bleakest recesses of the shrivelled human soul, Oceanclots dares you to lose your mind and surrender to the void./o:p

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson began his inauspicious career as a music journalist in 1999. He wrote for Kerrang! for seven years, before moving to Metal Hammer and Prog Magazine in 2007. His primary interests are heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee, snooker and despair. He is politically homeless and has an excellent beard.