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From within a cloud of feedback, a gingerly-picked melody emerges, shrouded in vile distortion. Two shots ring out in the distance -- twin snare drum cracks -- and the hellride begins. So commences “Succumb and Vanquish,” a truly soul-withering song from black metal band Adzalaan, premiering exclusively below:

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Adzalaan is the output of a singular personage known only as "R," who has written and performed the entirety of the project’s debut full-length release Into Vermilion Mirrors. “Succumb and Vanquish” is sinister as it comes, with single-note tremolo melodies slaughtering and burning their way across the song’s battle-scarred landscape.

Though R begins the song in straightforward 4/4 time, he soon engineers a transition into triplet feel that is smooth enough so as not to be noticed upon first listen. R maintains the triplet feel until the song’s end, passing it through tremolo blast beats, crushing downbeat chords, and even a chugged mid-song breakdown-bridge.

Rather than falling neatly into a blackened death metal categorization, the music of Adzalaan might be more appropriately described as “deathened black metal,” with deathly trappings laid atop a thoroughly blackened foundation. R’s vocals are the music’s deathliest aspect, as he spends the vast majority of his time in the low guttural register.

-- Ivan Belcic

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Scoop “Succumb and Vanquish” along with the rest of Into Vermillion Mirrors when the album is released on April 20th via Invictus Productions (CD) and Vrasubatlat (vinyl and cassette). In the meantime, stream “Paralysis Euphoria,” the album’s sixth track, below.

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