Mur - Athabasca

Wow. Not often do I find a band who can make the content or subject of their music feel as cohesive and alive as Mur has on his first release. Cam Sather is the artist known as Mur and from his Minnesota base he has created some of the best and most compelling black metal I have heard in a long while. Athabasca tells of the relation between the Grey Wolf and American Bison, and if you are going to tell an American story, you best have an american sound. Mur has that in spades, from a drone influence recalling Scenics' Aquatica (a very desolate southwestern drone sound, fitting for description of the great plains of the US), to banjo and acoustic guitar working together, to black metal sections that just sound like they were born between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Appalachia with Cascadia, none overwhelming the other. This is just top notch music here. Well done. Very well done.