As the protagonist heads to different parts of Europe, the music ties together with this, as different musical genres are brought in alongside the twisting and maddening black metal riffs. Much like the art, the music on this album comes together in a more abstract manner where the pieces almost seem to clash with each other and can be interpreted differently depending on the listener. Given the novel that inspired the album chronicle an artist’s obsession with the much more abstract and modern artform Suprematism, this makes perfect sense. Zwart vierkant completely flips the script on the genre, transforming it into something just as abrasive but far more fluid. Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien, ter werelt noyt soo vreemt ghehoort had its fair share of experimentation in the form of acted interludes and other atmospheric passages that reflected the narrative, but it the bulk of material remained rooted in the traditional abrasive roots of black metal. It’s an intriguing and unpredictable listen that simultaneously feels like a journey around Europe as well as a descent into madness. While elements of black metal remain, it’s only a small piece of the puzzle that makes up the material and you’ll find everything from classical guitar to jazz influences here.
Seven years later they’ve transformed even further with Zwart vierkant, which takes influence from a novel Grey Aura’s founding member Ruben Wijlacker wrote about an early 20 th century painter. Their 2014 full-length debut was a whopping eighteen song effort that was centered around Willem Barentsz’ third and final journey to find a north-eastern passage to Asia in 1596. Grey Aura certainly deserves a spot in the conversation too, as the band’s take on black metal has gone for more complex elements in both music and lyrical concept. Dutch black metal has a tendency to push boundaries a bit more often than the equivalents from other countries, and bands like Fluisteraars, Laster, and Terzij de Horde (to name a few) have all stood out in recent memory for this reason.
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