Our Diabolical Embrace is the latest project from Nick Skog who also performs in Ancient Tundra and runs Hypnotic Dirge Records. Completely different from his glacial ambient work with Ancient Tundra, Our Diabolical Embrace's sound is more situated in the symphonic/Gothic black metal genre though I find it hard to make any obvious comparisons. It's no real surprise with this genre, but the main focus is the synthesizers while the guitars are mostly just a pulse in the background with a drum machine rumbling alongside it. The synths however are performed quite well and they paint a musical portrait of various atmospheric qualities that keep my attention and allow me to return to this EP with just as much interest as I had upon my initial listening.
'Tragedy 'neath Nightfall's Grace' stands out as the EP's strongest point and perhaps it could be because it's made in collaboration with Mort from Exiled From Light who handles the guitar and vocals on this song. This one has a really strong driving edge to it, which is quite gripping too. It's also the only song that makes better use of the guitar as some interesting work is present, plus the production is slightly better on this song compared to the other four songs. After two more songs in a similar vein (track 3 being the best) the EP concludes with a short ambient piece and then moves to the bonus track, 'Untitled B,' which is from a defunct project of Nick's called, 'A Dark Fantasy.' This particular song is actually my second favorite song on the EP as its an orchestral ambient/neo classical piece with just the drum programming and although it's a bit hard to describe it has it's own unique flavor to it.
As a whole the listener is treated to some fine music here, although I'd make better use of the guitar on all tracks as well a more fitting production would benefit the project in the future. At 31 minutes this limited 40 copy EP could go fast once word spreads among the symphonic/Gothic black metal hordes.
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