Thy Light

The Brazilian act Thy Light may not be a novelty for die-hard fans of black metal in the vein of Make a Change…Kill Yourself or Austere, but assuming that most of the individuals who waste their time reading this stinky blog aren’t necessarily acquainted with black metal tainted with depressive traits, here goes a small introduction to the band. 

The first time I got in touch with Thy Light was back in 2007 when a friend of mine lent me their demo tape Suici.De.Pression. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the demo, not only in terms of composition but also production-wise. There was none of that raspy guitar-buzz, grating vocals and annoying background noise typical of many underground black metal tapes which, regardless of the musicians’ craftsmanship, leave us with a headache and sore ears after a few of minutes listening to them. I like filthy raw black metal as much as the next guy but no harm can be done from properly recorded and produced extreme music, especially if it incorporates sorrowful, gentle melodies as in Thy Light. And the thing about the demo is that, despite being designated as such, it is so mature and consistently composed that it could easily be labeled as an album. In fact, I think it is way better than many subpar “DSBM” full lengths that have been issued by numerous bands over the years. 

After I heard the tape I was all like “shit, when does the album come out?” Well, I had to wait seven years, but it was fucking worth it. In No Morrow Shall Dawn, released last year, Thy Light explores the path pre-established in the demo: melodic, forlorn black metal, underpinned by mid or low tempo beats and heavily reliant on keyboards. It reflects nonetheless one step beyond its predecessor, with many more rhythmical variations and musical diversity, sophisticated guitar lines, an organic, heartfelt vocal performance and the guest appearance of a former member of Austere. All this is done while not completely discarding the somewhat monotonous flow inherent to this type of music.

Anyway, here are their two releases, so you may assess them by yourself. Unjoy.