The reputation of Blackest Ever Black has grown to the point where the arrival of a new record bearing their name never fails to generate excitement, mainly because you simply don't know what you're going to get. Young Hunting, the artist name for Edinburgh's Marc Dall and Alex Ander, is a case in point; combining tribal rhythms and looming bass, they're very much a perfect fit for the label, while sounding like nothing else. Opener "Embers From The Pyre" utilises a hesitant rhythm with manic pagan bells to evoke a sense of dread, before finishing off with a spoken word outro, while the lavish orchestration of "A Hunger Artist" offers a more cinematic, but no less frenetic pace, as the rapid drumming is punctuated with desperate lyrics. On the B-Side, "Spritual Abandonment" offers the warmest melodic moments of the EP, but they're continually pulled out from under you by the avant-garde progressions. The EP closes with "Entrance Form The Carnal Mind", a track that sets a gothic scene with its organ and choral voices, leading to an ending of abstract despair, with the kind of furious vocals that bring to mind Mark E Smith interrupting a black mass.
