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Swords of Dis are a two-piece from the UK who've been around since 2009 while only managing a couple of releases since then. This is their second album (though with a length that doesn't even hit 30 minutes, I'm more inclined to call it an EP), and it shows them churning out some ominous, technical Black Metal that's pretty similar to Deathspell Omega's earlier works, especially in the deeply occult lyrical direction. Unfortunately, this has the same problem that Deathspell Omega had in their earlier days where the actual Black Metal sections are awesome, but everything around them falls a bit flat.

It's a shame too, because when they get harsher and play intricate riffs with hairpin time changes, they're pretty damn excellent at it. However, they also throw in slow, doomy sections with drawn-out guitar work, eerie ceremonial chanting, and even some haunting clean singing courtesy of Alice Corvinus. By themselves, these elements are pretty good and sometimes deeply involving, but they never feel like they have much to do with one another and sort of come at odds with the harsher sections, despite the lyrics indicating this is all supposed to be interconnected, making this an album that has great moments but no great songs. It doesn't help that the intro and outro to this drag on for too long and don't really build and resolve tension like they want to, leaving about 12 minutes of music I'd call engaging on an already scant release. These two are clearly talented, and they make some enthralling music when they put the pieces together, they just don't do it often enough yet to hit their high aspirations.