US Progressive Black Metallers Amiensus return with their fourth full-length record Reclamation: Part 1. The album gets kicked off with “Blink of the Moment” which right off the bat I am impressed with the production values. The clean vocals of James Benson and Kelsey Roe are outstanding. I dig the bass break played by Todd Farnham.

The second song, “Reverie” reminds me of groups like Agalloch and Borknagar. “Sense Amplified” opens with some beautiful clean acoustic and bass parts before a nice orchestral string section is added to provide additional melody. The tempo picks up and the grim vocals kick in.

“Sun and Moon” is up next and is one of the longer tracks on the album. Opening again with gorgeous guitar and bass work accompanied by strings which transitions into an almost ethereal trance-like vocal pattern.  This musicianship through the album is top-notch and is incredibly impressive. “A Consciousness Throughout Time” is another beautiful, spacey track. The songs on the album go anywhere from five to eight minutes. “Vermillion Fog of War” is has a bit of folk metal vibe to it before a cool guitar break before going into the verse.

“Spoken Into Will” opens with a solo guitar line with a string accompaniment. For not being familiar with their material Amiensus does a wonderful job maintaining atmosphere throughout the album. “Transcendence Through Grief’ finishes the album and starts with some nice bluesy-sounding guitar leads with acoustic guitar underneath. The whole track is a nice instrumental to finish up the album.

At a run time of around an hour, this is an ambitious listen. I look forward to what these guys do in the future. If you are looking for meticulous melodic black metal with a bit of a post-metal feel, give it a spin.

[Visit the band's website]

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