Why do we consume what we consume? Sometimes it’s just faith, whether it’s a band, a style, or a label. Sometimes it’s all of those at once, which is what prompted me to buy Only The Stars Know Of My Misfortune, the third full-length from anonymous bedroom black metal artist ISLEPTONTHEMOON. Everything sounds great on paper: one-man DSBM artist incorporates shoegaze and slowcore into their sound, gets picked up by Bindrune and is championed by Panopticon’s Austin Lunn, with a mastering job from Sterling Morrison. I wish the results were as good as that summary, because like a lot of music of this nature, and on this label, equal care isn’t paid to each section of the music, with the resulting album having so many solid moments marred by super compression and a lack of dynamics that sadly is far too common for this sub-genre. There are beautiful moments to be had, but man I wish it didn’t kill my ears to find them.

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