J-Man
Black Materia is a young act from Pennsylvania, and on this self-titled EP they play a style of dark metal that draws heavily from post rock and shoegaze. This short ten minute journey consists of only two tracks, both of which are very solid pieces of music from this promising band.
The music here is very moody and atmospheric, but still contains some heavy riffs and powerful vocals. I hear a strong doom metal influence in the music, as well as progressive rock and post rock overtones. Both of the songs here are pretty strong compositions, but the production is unfortunately not very good. This is demo-level sound quality, and I could've found myself enjoying the EP a bit more if the production were up to par.
Regardless of my complaints about the production, this is still a promising debut effort from this young band. Even though it's technically imperfect, all of the raw power and emotion is definitely there - and that's ultimately the most important thing. I'd say 2.5 stars are deserved in this case, and I'll be curious to hear where these guys head in the future.