LUMINIFEROUS AETHER

On Luminiferous Aether, Mare Cognitum play an accessible style of atmospheric black metal which feels almost orchestral - not in terms of the instrumentation, mind, but in terms of the production and the atmosphere that production enables. The album has a really "big" sound, creating the sense that project helmsman Jacob Buczarski is playing his instruments in the middle of a vast, empty concert hall, his music blasting the cobwebs out of the deserted seats and echoing through the darkened aisles.

To say that the production is the best thing about the album may sound like damning with faint praise, but I honestly don't mean it that way. The thing about atmospheric black metal is that it's all about the atmosphere - the clue is rather in the subgenre name - and it's easy to underestimate how important production is to that, but this album really illustrates the difference a really artistically apt production aesthetic makes.