renkls To me, a majority of the Drone Doom that I've heard really captures the linear structure of a life that slowly deteriorates into emptiness and decay. Black Boned Angels albums generally are fantastic examples of this, right down to the repetitions that fill everyday life, played off on the simple riffs looped near ad neausem, interlaced with discomforting feedback and sonic chaos. Bliss and Void Inseparable is an hour long rendition of this structure, and within it, there are three main parts. The introduction deals with establishing the mood of the piece, short, distorts of bass ( I assume) run through, as does lines of increasing feedback, and then a choir (i think) makes a backing appearance. This goes for the first 16 minutes, before we are plunged into the centerfold, a continuous pounding rhythm that drones along for another half hour, joined by even more feedback, what I suspect is a violin in screech mode, and a cold piano that accompanies the rhythm. At about 47 minutes, the rhythm finally drops, the feedback, violin screeches and piano continue on, and as the piece reaches its slow, laborious conclusion, all but the feedback fades away. Really, you can't say much more about this piece. It's slow, heavy, somewhat hypnotizing in its design and repetitions, but that's all. I personally enjoy it on occasion. In the right environment, it really works well.

renkls You could say that this is the 'purest' drone doom out there. It's basically minimalist hell, in that for 65 minutes we are treated to a droning, almost hypnotic looping system of distorted and heavy guitar notes, that doesn't really lead to any satisfactory conclusion, or really anywhere for that matter. Skipping through the album again, there is a noticeable build, but in the context of the album, it's really not enough to justify the length, or any number of replays. Although you may be interested to invest in this album for its rarity, aside from that, there's not much going for it in musicality. Interestingly purist drone doom, but really not memorable for having achieved that.

renkls It's generally perceived that Black Boned Angel's Verdun is their high watermark in their career so far, and out of the four albums of theirs I've heard, I tend to agree. Although, like most drone doom metal albums, there is the deceptively simple design - a single song album which only contains subtle variations on/around/within what appears to be a pretty straightforward riff or pattern - what matters here more then in their other works is probably the concept, and the power which follows behind this release. Verdun is a famous/infamous battle ground of the second world war, a nightmarish 3 day battle immersed in what I can only imagine was a hellish sense of dread, despair and doom. And so, what better concept album for a drone doom band to base their album on? Throughout, things go from ominous in the first five minutes, to an outburst that sustains for the next half of the album length, then a brief respite and return to ominous dread, before the noise laced, erratic and intense finale kicks in. Powerful, depressive, but quite unforgettable if you're a drone doom fan - this is an album that may not be regular listening material, but in the right atmosphere, will blow you away, time and time again.

Haze New Zealand’s Black Boned Angel specialise in reductive drone based doom, and Verdun, their 12th release, is a monolithic beast. BBA concentrate on epic, often experimental, instrumental doom, with a firm focus on the heaviness and the riff. Stripped of any supercilious add-on’s their sound, and ethos, is akin to similar artists like Japan’s Corrupted or early Sunn O))). Verdun, named after one of the battlefields of the First World War, is an impressive hour-long three-passage piece tackling the fear before combat, the numbing sense of impending loss and the chaos of artillery fire and battle. Actual markers of where the tracks end and begin are indistinct, although the album has clear emotive shifts, discernible by the substance of the accompanying riffs and shift in emotive weight. This album represents something of a high mark for BBA, after their previous excellent split e.p with Canada’s Nadja, the use of smothered backing choral voices, dense splintered chords and distorted tones make for an album truly representative of the disorder and merciless nature of war. Highly recommended for anyone who favours the density of drone-based metal.