adg211288 Out of all the different sub-styles of black metal the one that seems to churn out the most releases is atmospheric black metal. There are many variations on this genre but most artists playing the style, whether they be the kind to create a wintry or warm atmosphere, or whether they embrace nature or space, stick to similar principles in terms of actual song composition. Which is why it's always refreshing to come across an album like Re Un (2016), the second full-length album from Portuguese duo Névoa, where we find a band willing to try some different things to create an atmospheric black metal sound.

Usually music like what we have here on Re Un is dubbed as post-black metal. The album features a sound that combines elements of black metal and sludge metal. It's not the first such release I've come across but I do hear much less of these than other atmospheric black metal types. It's a rather short release featuring just four tracks and around 32 minutes of music. As instrumentalists band members João Freire and Nuno Craveiro produce some interesting ideas that focus on rhythmic guitar playing, sometimes coming across as being quite progressive/experimental, as in the start of II Contemplation. Delegating vocals to a session member, it's clear that instrumental work is Névoa's priority and they take a more direct approach in this than artists of other types of atmospheric black metal act do, which is to say that rather than creating the kind of soundscape that a listener can get immersed in they've made an album which is all about what's going on with the guitars, using them to create an atmosphere by adding multiple layers to their music.

I have to say that the approach is to their credit, but they have also ended up with a result that in some places comes across as being repetitive. Of course repetitive patterns in the music are often intentionally used in black metal, atmospheric black being no exception, but Névoa's playing style, though praiseworthy, does come with the side effect that such things are highlighted more, meaning that they have less room to get away with stuff. Their ideas often seem to repeat for too many times before they decide to switch things up or even just add the next layer to their atmosphere, under which you'll still most likely be able to hear the previous pattern carrying on. Especially with the opening track I Communion, a track with four distinct parts, it feels as if they should have trimmed each part down and made a more concise track, rather than drawing it out for nine and a half minutes. They do the longer song format a bit better on II Contemplation, but there are still certain parts of the track where their repeating the same pattern of music over and over again quickly gets old. Overall an album of this short a length shouldn't feel this drawn out.

The overall impression that Re Un leaves me with is that Névoa has good ideas, they just need more of them to vary the record up and flesh it out. I think that if they'd done that Re Un would have held my attention more. If they could have got that right I'd also have liked to hear more tracks from them, as the best parts of the album do leave me wanting more. As it stands the album is still quite enjoyable to a point though, and it leaves me with hopes for their future work.