Since its release, “Black Snow Desert” has been causing a bit of a ruckus for any avid investigator of Bandcamp. It wasn’t a whole lot, but it was enough to get the attention of someone like me who loves seeing new things that could be awesome, and until now I’ve never had a reason to listen to it. Not to mention really had the time or the motivation to listen to this simply because Nonsun is a doom/drone metal band and that means their songs are very long. I’m talking the shortest song at 8 minute (not that bad, “Master of Puppets” length) and the longest being just under 16 minutes which . . . as a doom fan that’s the point where I can jokingly say “now we’re getting somewhere” and actually mean it. “Black Snow Desert” had the staggeringly heavy atmosphere and a sort of suspense to it that really kept you on the edge of your seat waiting for what Nonsun was going to smack you in the face with next. Nonsun is also an instrumental band so the entirety of this 60+ minute album is a pure trip through the deepest, seldom traveled, and sometimes even scariest places in the depths of your subconscious – a place you never thought one album would be able to take you. With parts that are completely atmospheric, others that crush you into a pile of smoldering ash, and others that seem to take you to another plane of existence, “Black Snow Desert” truly is one of the better drone metal albums out there that I would totally recommend to anyone trying to get into the genre or those who have always been because Nonsun have proven themselves to be one of the great minds behind a genre that requires an absolute f**k ton of collaborating to pull off, and when I say they pulled it off with this album I mean they hit the nail on the f**king head. A transcending in every form of the word, “Black Snow Desert” is the most psychedelic non-psychedelic album I’ve heard from such a heavy band in a long while and it would be an insult not to call this record not only refreshing but impressive.
You can stream “Black Snow Desert” on Bandcamp here, and stream the track “Forgotten is What Never Was” via YouTube below!
Track Listing:
1. No Pity for the Beast, No Shelter for the Innocent
2. Ashes of Light, Demons of Justice
3. Crystal Empty
4. Peace of Decay, Joy of Collapse
5. Heart’s Heavy Burden
6. Observing the Absurd
7. Rest of Tragedy
