Accessing the awe of the land means examining its scars, revisions and overall tormented relationship with civilization as Scottish black metal solo project KILDONAN reframes and finally grants its long-time-coming debut full-length birth unto purposeful statement. Wide-angled and bristling at the cold winds and eroded stones of the Highlands ‘Embers‘ draws upon the holistic spiritus of place beyond setting and a sense of self, causing a veritable eruption of melancholia and high-expressive outbursts for the sake of uniquely voiced works. Personal in its craft and ear-piercingly expressive in motion as a result there is some great deal of passion and curious oddity injected into every moment of this uncanny first impression made.

Kildonan is the birth of an entity gestating for roughly twenty years having been given due polish and refinement during the pandemia of MMXX and beyond. Founded in 2003 under the name Vostok by musician Hamish MacKintosh, best known for his drumming in atmospheric black metal bands Úir and Haar before more recent groups Ageless Summoning and Sluagh generated some broader movement. The unique character of this particular solo project was self-built over the course of many years and just a few recordings, under the previous name the nature of ‘From Lofty Peaks…‘ (2010) and ‘Like the Sand When the Whirlwind Breathes‘ (a split with black ambient project Wraiths) appeared to center around concepts of place, be it thoughts on territory and/or the observance of natural beauty, not uncommon for U.K. black metal of the era. Some unorthodox musicianship helped those recordings to stand out somewhat in hindsight and the vocals were already over the top, animalistic in some sense. That said we don’t gather anywhere near enough precedence for what ‘Embers‘ would become based on the Vostok years. The way that I view this relation is more-or-less a Mark II vision of the concept was born beyond ~2018, pivoting to a different sense of place and recalibrating purpose.

With Kildonan MacKintosh roots himself deeper into the lochs and bens of the Scottish Highlands via personal histories, soaking in the awe and intrigue of his surroundings as a balance of gloomy, earthen UKBM traits comingled with ringing abstract chord usage a la Icelandic black metal’s better known acts. The effect is a rush of blood to the temporal lobe, the heat of the sinuses struck by cold sea air as we step out of doors into title track/opener “Embers” greeted by pastoral clean vocals in mid-paced chant beset by keening, throat ripping howls which eventually take the lead on the song’s main verses. This juxtaposition is immediately curious for the depressive black wailing as the key directive and its well-timed harmonization with cleaner vocals (+ spoken parts) that make our first breath of air hit from several angles. While I’m not sure I’d call the result post-black metal there is a certain loft to the opener’s movement that recalls the tragedian flexion of more recent Deathspell Omega works at a mid-pace, though this particular arrangement features no left hand turn and seems to take cues from post-metal and doom for its overall compositional drain. The effect is simple enough, hymnal and confessional at once with a distinct voice.

With much of ‘Embers‘ fragmented and fostered over the course of a decade plus there is hardly a moment left afloat without intentioned movement over its ~40 minute course allowing each song its own task and subject on the way through. While the opener provided a compelling flexion of technique in easily read reveal we get into the thick of Kildonan‘s black metal delve with the melodious eerie of “Ioliar-Bhuidhe” another piece to balance ear wrenching pained vocals (ah via Rainer Landfermann-isms) with cleaner, nigh crooning affect (re: Nubivagant, Primordial) and despite the level of detail applied this’ll be the planar setting from which each piece launches from in terms of basal melancholic tone and the frequent trade-offs between vocal techniques. The step from the golden eagle lit second piece through the Well of Virtues itself (“Tobar Mheasain”) is increasingly desperate in its arm-flinging outcry, reflecting the insignificance of the human organism in a grand, sprawling landscape (destroyed, rebuilt, etc.) per my own observations. The step from a frayed state to an increasingly revived stoicism is largely what I’d gleaned from the reactivity of these pieces, each growing increasingly theatric rather than tragedian or outright depressive.

For the first several listens of ‘Embers‘ was freakish spectacle for its harsher wailing vocals, no doubt a thing I’d both loved and hated ’til I’d sat with “Garden of Forking Pathways” and felt it was the piece to tie the whole affair together, reframing some of the dissonantly struck chord use and gathering a brilliant amount of tension for its two-waved outburst. There I’d found the over the top nature of the artist and the design of this album a symptom of a somewhat refreshingly outrageous personae, the choice of medium and the rolling hill’d float-and-burn of Kildonan‘s verve gaining its peaking complexity at just the right time. The one thing I’d wanted more of is the bass guitar tone’s clanging feature on said piece as I’d felt like the overall bass performances on this album offered supportive coloration but might’ve been just as welcome prominently set within the immediate landscape.

‘Embers‘ neither fades away nor peaks beyond its fifth part but finds a glowing point of reflection to end on via “To Gaze Upon the Infinite” returning to the dual vocal trade-off type of arrangement and successfully looping back to the beginning of the whole deal having covered quite a lot of ground. Though I’ll admit the album appears more ambitious than it ends up being in some sense there is a cohesion, a sharp sense of focus which roots all six of these pieces together into an appreciable set of observations, musing which is admittedly odd in its voice and all the more memorable for it. Achieving some manner of memorable stature through a variety of vocal techniques and a surreal, melancholic moodiness is an achievement when only a few pieces are built around quick-cycling repetition and in this sense the compositional strength of this album revolves around tact and dramatism at the same time. Though I’m not sure I’ll remember more than a couple Kildonan songs from this debut the sonic personality achieved here is a strong achievement, one which’ll be far over the top for many listeners but exactly weird enough for folks who’re after personalized, meaningfully crafted black metal adjacent experiences. A high recommendation.

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