Written in Waters Review

Band	Ved Buens Ende
Album	Written in Waters
Type	Album (Studio full-length)
Released	October 1995
Genres	Avant-garde Metal, Post-Black Metal
Labels	Misanthropy
Length	57:11
Ranked	#165 for 1995 , #8,391 all-time

Reviewer :  SilentScream213         Rating :  75 / 100

Might be controversial, but I’m of the opinion that Ved Buens Ende…’s best material was on their EP, Those Who Caress the Pale, and the tracks from there that made it here are the best. I’m usually not a huge fan of overly Avant-Garde stuff, but that EP was pretty much a perfect mix of Blackened Prog Metal with insanely quirky and disturbing Avant-Garde touches.

As to be expected, this album goes further into the Avant-Garde, focusing more on incredibly ominous and bizarre atmospheres, and the Black Metal plays second fiddle to the Avant-Garde Prog Metal. Songs change around in style, and interestingly there’s a lot of vocal variation here as well. The atmosphere is pretty great, a culmination of all things bad and ugly, captured very well in that unnerving album art. Don’t let my opening statement fool you; this is still an awesome record, and one of the best Avant-Garde releases of its time. However, it’s not as consistent as the EP, and the softer moments (like track 7) just don’t work as well as the heavy, ominous oppression. The hidden track is a weak way to end the album as well, though no weaker than the overlong outro on penultimate Remembrance of Things Past would have been.

The album did manage to give me actual chills and make me think I was hearing things on track 3 (when that human dog howl noise echoes in the background…) so they get credit for making some legitimately creepy, ominous music that still IS music. This is another one of those one album wonders where a band came in, did something rather incredible, and peaced out. Even if the album isn’t an absolute favorite for me, it’s still an impressive and magnificent piece of work.