Review: Selbst “Selbst”

Selbst “Selbst”
Sun & Moon Records

Selbst is one of mine favorite discoveries in recent years starting with their EP An Ominous Landscape from 2015 which just blew me away with its atmospheres and raw emotion.  So it’s easy to say that I was very excited when I heard that their first full length is in works and soon out upon the world.

For the uninitiated, Selbst is band formed back in 2010 from Venezuela, Chile. Their style although is easily recognized as black metal (of sorts), it relies heavily on the atmosphere and howling vocals which are far more audible then your traditional screams.

Although I was pretty much existed about the album, I was very worried how this style would transfer in a 40 minute material because it can a bit repetitive and boring after a while. Lucky, the whole albums flows almost without the problem.

It really sounds like an extension of their EP An Ominous Landscape with a more progressive sound and more thoughtful songwriting to keep the listening interesting.

Speaking on the sound, the albums feature a replacement for Frozen who sang on their previous work. Now we have Nicholas Onfray from the band Animus Mortis also from Chile. The replacement is almost seamless because I only realized it only after I checked the line-up on the album. They really sound alike. Which is a thumb up for the both of the guys.

The production is dark and brooding, nothing fancy but compliments the songs very well pushes them to the fullest potential. For some reason I feel some Triptykon vibe on some songs like Instrument of my own destruction and similar ones. The album really lets the song breathe adding a lot of doom vibes before the all-out assault on our ears.

Like the last EP, their self-titled album works as a whole so is a bit hard to be selective and pick a favorite track, almost they all parts of one dark, brooding monster.

Fans of black metal and any sorts of dark music should check out this album and other work of the band.

Selbst is a definition of a hidden dark gem, which does not deserve to be hidden.