by Janet Willis (Defecation of the Divine)
The “Halny” EP is a 20 minute track of pure avant-garde bliss. It’s really hard to review something that defies categorization and instead strives for individuality in sound and the experience given to the listener. Furia achieves with this EP what I look for in many releases and wind up disappointed, a total sense of obliteration and heavy atmosphere. I really try to avoid the horrid term ”shoe-gaze” in my reviews although this album is sadly marketed as being black metal shoe-gaze sort of like the cruelties of ignorance bestowed upon other acts like Alcest.
For me “Halny” is pure blackness but heavily pagan and even folk and psychedelic sort of like Twilight. Hints of bands like: Minsk, Isis, Hellas Mounds, Wolves in the Throne Room, Finnr’s Cane, Summoning, Alcest, and Lifelover all come together in this hypnotic and almost somnial haze of what could accurately be described as yet another monumental piece of psychedelic black metal. There is nothing missing on this and the draw of so many elements,moods, and influences to create what feels like an audio narrative of a dream as it also brings to mind the track “Coffin Life” by Hallowed Butchery. Absolutely brilliant and captivating in all its fuzz and clamor.
