Country of origin:Spain
Location:Barcelona, Catalonia
Status:Active

Formed in:2012
Genre:Atmospheric Black Metal
Lyrical themes:Sadness, Desolation, Pain, Suffering, Despair
Current label:Non Serviam Records
Years active:2012-present

DISCOGRAPHY

Uncertainty EP 2013
Conviction of Voidness Full-length 2014
Astral Dream Full-length 2015
Epiphanies of the Orphaned Light Full-length 2016

current line up

V. Drums
See also: Atrexial, ex-Decapitated Christ
A. Vocals, Bass
See also: Cauldron, Evnar, ex-Crynight, ex-Aeternal Mortuary, ex-Inania Regna, ex-Setge, ex-Engraved
M. Guitars (lead) (2015-present)
I. Guitars (rhythm) (2015-2017, 2018-present)
See also: Kylmä, Iván Ferrús

PAST MEMBERS

K. Guitars
See also: Monostor, Vad, ex-Vampyrsgard
G Guitars
Alvar Guitars (2015)
See also: Wargaz, ex-Everfrost, ex-Norse Wind

reviews

Competent ambient BM debut playing a bit safe - 67%
NausikaDalazBlindaz, November 2nd, 2015
It seems fitting that Perennial Isolation's debut recording should be called "Uncertainty" as first recordings are often a way for a band to explore what it may want to do in the future. Debut releases offer opportunities to go in one direction or another, or even several directions at once, and even after the last track has finished there can still remain the impression that there are more possibilities to be investigated.

The Catalans almost literally start their debut, "Uncertainty", by tentatively stepping into the darkness with tinny piano before deciding that the best way to go is right in at the deep end … and they do that by blasting full-on raw black metal with a post-rock edge at unsuspecting listeners. "Over the Sea" gives us an overview of what these guys are aiming for: a fusion of rough and attacking BM roar, complete with throaty guttural death-rattle vocal, harsh tremolo guitar noise and bursts of tinny blast-beat drumming; and a more melancholy melodic side that looks wistfully at what could be and what might have been. Second track "No More Reincarnations" has a weary air, as if the vocalist is tired of the constant and meaningless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. What's it all for if after endless births and rebirths the soul is no further advanced towards enlightenment than it was at the start of the original cycle, and after each and every cycle the soul can only look forward to more misery in the next? The song is a very busy one without much pause to meditate on the meaning and purpose of constant reincarnation.

It's really only with the third track "Perennial Isolation" that we start to see some evolution in PI's music with the use of duelling guitar melodies and riffs and a slightly slower pace that allows for a definite mood to develop. There seems to be an air of resignation and the aggression present in earlier songs has mellowed though the song is still capable of breathing fire in its later half. As the track continues, a jangly guitar line brings in a bleaker atmosphere. Seeing out the EP is the title track which appropriately doesn't sound as if it's reviewing everything that's gone before, tying up all the loose ends and summarising the whole EP to close it off; but instead is taking the ideas developed and moving towards something that will have to be resolved on a future recording.

I definitely think that this EP is only a taster of what's to come from PI and might be playing a bit safe. The songs are not very distinct from one another and could do with further development of their individual themes and ideas. The end result would have been a much more complex beast that would be a proper blueprint for the first album and maybe the second and third albums. The vocals are very limited in range and quite crabby in sound, and are the weakest element in the band's style. Emotional expression is limited as well and the band could have taken some risk in varying the music, allowing it more expressiveness and bringing in more atmosphere and depth.

Overall this is a competent if uneven start to what hopefully will be a very productive and fulfilling career for the band.

Powerful, confident fusion ambient BM / post-rock - 80%
NausikaDalazBlindaz, November 4th, 2015
I found this second album by Catalan band Perennial Isolation on Youtube (but not their first) about the same time as I discovered their EP. Compared to the EP, "Astral Dream" comes across as a far more confident and mature work. The first thing I noticed is that the singing is much better in expression and range than it was on the EP though it's still far back in the mix. The ratty sound quality and harsh textures may remain but not the caution or uncertainty - instead we get full-on force and continuous energy that sometimes needs a bit more restraint than it gets, to be fully effective.

The band's music is a powerful and hard-hitting style of fusion atmospheric BM / melodic post-metal with a very steely sound and thunderous drumming. There isn't much to fault here but the vocals can get lost in such loud and booming music. The singing can sound very feeble and reedy rather than angry or anguished and the musicians should consider bringing them more upfront. Most songs have very strong melodies complemented by continuously or almost continuously thrumming blast-beat percussion.

Early songs are fairly straightforward attacking black metal verging on thrash and death metal. They can be very formidable and monstrous like solid blocks of continually buzzing guitars pushed onwards by booming drumwork. The first three songs feature BM-styled vocals but a change comes about in the fourth track ("Cold Inside") with spoken clean-toned vocals sharing equal time with the usual sandpapered singing, and this is echoed in the guitar-work with a blues-blessed electric guitar duelling with the battery of BM tremolo noise. The first half of the album concludes with a brief instrumental interlude of solo flamenco guitar backed by a field recording of rain.

The album continues with strong thunderous music that features a great deal of virtuoso drumming, more blast-beat rhythms and less singing than before. There are plenty of explosive instrumental breaks where both guitars and drums go hell for leather into the wild blue yonder, racing each other as if the end of the world is upon us and there's so much vast ground to cover before everything shuts down. At this point I have to admit I've lost track of individual songs so I'm just letting myself be swept along by the sheer energy, passion and intensity of the music. While there are occasions where a dark urban-blues side is revealed with flowing liquid melodies, these moments are brief and end up not so much swept out of the way as steam-rolled out of existence. Subtlety isn't a very strong point here and the band might want to consider toning down the power on future recordings so that listeners don't end up feeling more bludgeoned than immersed in the music.

Overall this is a solid effort technically with consistent playing and a lot of power and aggression produced. The main danger for Perennial Isolation is that there is so much thunder and power here that the music escapes the band members' control and ends up flattening everything in its path. When they try to be slower, quieter and introspective, the music is still heavy and comes across as a bit clumsy. If these guys intend going in a more emotionally and musically complex direction with an equal emphasis on sorrowful and melodic post-rock and hard-n-heavy BM - and I think that's what they're aiming for - they'll need a lighter touch, a sense of fragility, along with the power and the thunder.