Pa Vesh En (BY) – Church of Bones LP

Black Metal

Now arrives Church of Bones, proving with no small amount of finality that PA VESH EN is creating some of the most mysterious and vital black metal of modern times. At seven songs spanning 37 minutes, Church of Bones feels far more vast than its otherwise-compact runtime suggests. If the preceding split with TEMPLE MOON marked a momentous shift toward total and utter desolation, then PA VESH EN dives deepest – and equally, both in manner and quality – into both the fog and the murk here, further developing that malodorous melodicism that likewise crept forth on the split. Returning to misery and comfort (and the comfort of misery), the long ‘n’ languorous landscapes laid out across Church of Bones beckon the listener in a most seductive manner, all before those cursed tendrils ensnare the subconscious and suck it dry, any last semblance of hope extinguished. This celestial drift-unto-descent feels somewhat familiar in the grand scheme of black metal which uses rawness as a weapon, and yet there’s that elusive X-factor (or, literally, just literal elusiveness) that makes PA VESH EN sound completely and utterly ALIEN.