I Shalt Become is one of the most innovative single member Black Metal acts out there, especially with the release of Poison. The music on this release is unlike any other release out there, finding itself more in the the realm of ambience with vocals by setting up an epic Black Metal sound that will transport the listening to the most gothic of locations in a medievil period of time, leaving a very haunting feeling to the listener, both of despair as well as joy in some instances. It's just too bad that sometimes it sounds like the ghost of this haunted setting sounds like some mentally handicapped fellow in a wheel chair.
Poison is a mind boggling release as far as the music is concerned. The album is essentially just one long song and comes across as a Romanticism based medievil piece, the kind of epic sound one would expect to hear accompanying a more intense silent black and white Dracula flick, or to accompny one while playing such vide games as Castlevania. The tone of the album, for the most past, is a creepy, haunting feeling, though in some tracks, such as "Black Swan Events", the tone of the album can become a little more uplifting, perhaps joyous, if not more self empowering. Of course, there's also the heavier tracks such as "No Quarter at the Somme", which really just hammers away at the listeners sense with fast moving keyboards and hard hitting drumming that will simply play on the listeners nerves and leave him or her in a state of fear and paranoia. If you're looking for something that perfectly portrays what you would expect to hear when you are greeted with the terms "grim" and "cold" with Black Metal, then this release is it down to it's very core and will simply blow you away from the second you start listening to it, as well as become caught up in it's dramatic gothic musical compositions the further you go. There is, however, one tiny hitch to Poison, which lies in the vocals.
The vocals, again, are simply a thing of genius. They are performed in a way that compliments the music, as if they were voices caught within the wind in the dead of night, fully increasing the intensity of the moment in the music. There really is nothing else that can be done vocally that will work with this album, as a simple vocal approach with lengthy lyrics that are typical to traditional musical composition simply will not do and will take away from the overall experience this album lays out to the listener, especially when there are plenty of tracks that shy away from playing on the listeners nerves, but rather try to lift him or her into a sort of journey if that individiausl is willing to let themself go on it. However, none of this will come to light at first, as these shrieks and growls that compliment this album so well, at first, on "Like a Lamb to the Slaughter...", sound more like echoed recordings a mentally challenged individual amongst the wind instead of evil spirits. Luckily the vocal performance betters itself, and becomes more enjoyable the deeper into the album you go, butt that first track just has such a horrible performance that it will be hard to take it seriously at first.
So, aside some ridiculous vocals at the very start, this album is one of the most incredible releases you could hear, especially considering this is a one man project, and from what is out there, many literally solo projects in this field don't always turn out well. However, thanks to a stellar production quality and the very over the top epic music led by the keyboards, and the ability to maintain a natural conceptual flow between the tracks, linking them together regardless of how fast, slow, somber, or intense they are, Poison is easily one of the most stand out releases in the style today, and demands your attention be turned directly towards I Shalt Become.
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