The Great Old Ones – EOD : A Tale of Dark Legacy

The world would be a lot less interesting place without french black metal, wouldn’t it? The amount of bands constantly pushing the envelope originating from France is truly a thing to behold. Even though I generally keep an eye on that scene, I managed to miss one hell of a release from 2017: The Great Old Ones latest album, EOD : A Tale of Dark Legacy. Actually this is my first contact with the band, and I’ve been sorely missing out.

First of all, looking at the lineup, one thing that stands out is that they employ 3 guitarists, which is irregular for a black metal band. Moreover, listening to the album, they really put them to good use. Each riff explodes with dissonant tentacles and the general feeling is that of being swallowed by a dark swarm. The wall of sound created is inescapable, and perfectly fits to the Lovecraftian theme of the band.

Delving deeper into the Lovecraft influence of the band, they name themselves after the gods in Lovecraft’s universe, The Great Old Ones. This album is centered around the novella “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, which is also the name of the first proper song. I provides a fiery start to the album, while later slowing down to a crawl, perfectly capturing the atmosphere of the decrepit seaport of Innsmouth.

I don’t want to spoil this one for you, as it is best experienced from start to damning end. The composition ebbs and flows between chaotic maelstroms of tremolo riffs, ritualistic slower passages, all stitched together by clean passages meant to create tension and draw the listener further into the spiraling horror of the underlying concept. And it all works beautifully, as very few succeed into translating the actual source material’s atmosphere into a gripping, coherent album.

I will mention two highlights, “The Ritual” and closing track “Mare Infinitum”. The latter has a beautiful cello intro and lyrically it ties back to “The Shadow over Innsmouth”, showing the hero’s capture by the Deep Ones, at one point slowing down to funeral doom tempo before exploding into the final stampede of the album. On some editions there is also an acoustic bonus track “My Love for the Stars” which is well worth having, at least for the contrast to the rest of the material.

I’ve heard a lot of complains about the production of this album, some mentioning it being too loud and not dynamic enough. I guess this is something that finally comes down to personal preference. I feel that it perfectly fits the music and the concept. While more immediate detail would have been appreciated, the overbearing wall of sound works towards the album’s feeling of immersion.

All in all, this is truly a gripping album, from concept to execution. I can only recommend you dim the lights, blow the dust off your Lovecraft volumes, pour a glass of deep red wine and drown in The Great Old Ones utterly suffocating darkness.