I loved and reviewed Yoth Iria’s 2020 debut ep Under His Sway and it was my favorite ep for 2020.   These ex-members of Rotting Christ and current members from Necromantia and Lucifer’s Child are writing machines as they have now unleashed their first full length As the Flame Withers and this is my first review of any 2021 albums.  8 songs in 47 minutes of monstrous brutal and melodic black metal.

“The Great Hunter” gets the ball rolling with the Holy Shit moment out of the starting gates with a blast beat and then the black metal riffing is outstanding.  Bringing back that melodic and emotive picking that was prevalent on the ep.  Very catchy riffing and the raspy black metal vocals are angry sounding.  About halfway through the song we get some great double bass drums and then the slow down moment has those atmospheric qualities making you feel this song was crafted in the nether regions of hell.  Some terrific classic metal guitar moments and solos bringing forth a more expansive sound and calling to mind vintage Mercyful Fate.

The band even wrote a band name song.  The “Yoth Iria” song is over 5 minutes and from this point forward the rest of the songs are on the longer side.  Starting with a slow build-up and then into the melodic soloing and light snare drum rolling with vocals over these “softer” moments add more depth and really kick ass. There are some technical aspects which honestly calls to mind some Fallujah and really work well alongside the atmospheric black metal moments on this song.  This is a very moody number with various sounds thrown in which make it very memorable.

“The Mantis” is the longest song at over 7 minutes and bring forth some more classic metal moments into the mix and some faster moments.  I would even say I hear some moments reminding me of Germany’s Chapel of Disease with the metal moments entwined with atmospherics.  Excellent.

“The Red Crown Turns Black” brings more of the ferocious side of Yoth Iria with the blast beats and the tempo shifts really can catchy you off guard and I love that, their music not predictable.  “The Luciferian” has more melodic moments and some keyboard action to boot, a great album closer.

Yoth Iria’s As the Flame Withers is the way to start off 2021!!  Great production, more expansive soundscapes then their killer 2020 ep and even tighter and more focused musicianship.  They are focused and even brought back that demonic bastard who adorned their ep and placed him slap dab on this album cover.  Awesome!  Maybe once live shows start up again they can have a friend dress up in a costume, resembling the demonic entity, and torment the crowd like Eddie with Iron Maiden.  Just a thought.  You want high quality black metal with atmospherics, great song writing and non-linear patterns, you best snap this bad boy up now.  Buy or Die!!

[Visit the band's website]

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