[Reaper16]

20. Panopticon – Roads to the North

Panopticon’s last album, Kentucky, attempted to tell the story of that state through black metal. Musically, it utilized bluegrass instrumentation & incorporated black metal into that. It was utterly unique and certainly captivating. This new album still uses banjo as part of its black metal flavor, but the overall effect is less overtly conceptual. The vibe is that of a complex, modern black metal album that just happens to have bluegrass influence. It’s more cohesive is what I think I’m getting at. The production is intentionally pretty low-fi, which doesn’t do much for the album IMO. But apart from that this is a frequently beautiful, unique artistic vision. I don’t need to write much more than “there’s banjo in this black metal album” for you to click the Youtube link, do I?