Review by Rick Eaglestone
Dunes of Ash – The Fall of the Seven Sisters
Record Label: Signal Rex
Year: 2025
Rating: 8/10
Dunes Of Ash, the latest offspring of this fertile creative wasteland, arrives with their debut offering “The Fall of the Seven Sisters” – a seven-track odyssey that feels less like an album and more like a descent into ecclesiastical madness.
From the moment opener “The Eye of the Seraphic Void” begins its malevolent ascent, it becomes clear that this is no run-of-the-mill Black Metal offering as this trio have managed to craft something that exists in the liminal space between Orthodox Black Metal’s spiritual warfare and the more Avant-garde tendencies of bands like Blut Aus Nord or Deathspell Omega
The album’s conceptual framework revolves around celestial collapse and divine abandonment – themes that have been explored countless times in Black Metal, yet Dunes Of Ash approaches them with a fresh perspective that feels both reverent and iconoclastic. “War Hymn of the Wounded Star” demonstrates the band’s ability to weave intricate melodic passages through walls of tremolo-picked chaos. The track builds with the patience of a funeral procession before exploding into passages of pure sonic violence that would make Emperor’s “In The Nightside Eclipse” era proud.
Vocally, the performance throughout “The Fall of the Seven Sisters” channels the possessed shriek tradition established by bands like Antaeus and Aosoth, but with a distinctive inflection that adds an extra layer of otherworldly menace. The lyrics deal with themes of spiritual desolation and cosmic horror that would make Lovecraft himself.
Burning a cacophony of dissonant guitars and tortured vocals throughout the band’s compositional maturity truly shines, proving that they understand the importance of restraint in creating truly devastating Black Metal.
Album closer “The Mortal’s Shame” brings the journey full circle, incorporating elements from each preceding track while pushing the band’s sound into even more experimental territory. The song’s final minutes dissolve into Ambient textures and distant choral voices, leaving the listener suspended in a state of spiritual exhaustion.
Dunes Of Ash have delivered one of the year’s most compelling Black Metal statements with “The Fall of the Seven Sisters.” The album succeeds both as a showcase for the band’s considerable technical abilities and as a cohesive artistic vision that rewards repeated listening. In an increasingly crowded field, Dunes of Ash have managed to carve out their own distinct corner of the Black Metal landscape.
Oratio ad Septem Profanationes
Invocation to the Seven Desecrations
No light. No hope. No order. Only pure Devil worship!