Review Summary: Cormorant are the easiest black metal band to love.
Cormorant are a band that is easy to gush about. Since their inception, they have been completely DIY, and that won't sound like something worth mentioning until you have actually
heard an album like
Diaspora. Whatever vodoo they are doing as an "independent" band seems to be working, because their latest album is a
perfect sounding record; the sort of album begat by the sort of band whose effortless and natural penchant at simply
being a band makes you fall in love.
As a band, Cormorant sound refined beyond all expectations. As an album,
Diaspora is an unapologetic metal epic. Nothing here sounds second rate, bargain bin progressive black metal. The four winding tracks range from seven to nearly 30 minutes in length, never dipping in quality or wandering into pretentiousness. It's the type of "progressive" album that doesn't feel like its trying to be. Despite the profound runtime, "Migration" isn't bloated nor does it aim to high and fumble into ridiculousness. Yes it feels like a melting pot of all expected tropes--folk, death, black, and doom metal. Fortunately it avoids some of the more *eye-roll* inducing grandeur of their peers, matching lofty ideas with restraint and thoughtful writing.
Each song, while much more neutered, matches the tone and quality found in "Migration," which in turn makes for the most impressive statement the band has made to date. Because of this smartly used variety,
Diaspora is the rare kind of metal album that can bridge the gap between the progressive "dorks" and the cynical elite; a record of staggering depth and broad appeal.
