Kaskaskia -- symphonic black metal from the USA

Some time ago we had noticed this black metal project online, but there wasn't much to go on. There was a 2019 single, and some pictures and hints of things to come. This EP is called Fleecian Winter Majesty and was released on January 20th, 2021. Apparently, the music was recorded in 2018 and only sees the light of day now. There doesn't seem to be any information saying this project is finished, so maybe it just took a long while to get it all together ready for release (It’s not easy when you have to do everything yourself in the name of black metal love). The EP is three songs: 1.Winter Tresses (06:30); 2.The Throne Awaits (04:38); 3.The Brunette (09:31), for a total time of 20:39. Metal Ar-chives shows that Kaskaskia (possibly based in Illinois state, USA) is Damián Antón Ojeda on guitars, keyboards and drum programming. Damián's other projects include A Nightlit Poesy, Aevilian, Comforting, Evocative Atmosphere, Évval, Life, Sadness, and Ser; and formerly of An Open Letter, Born an Abomination, Iniquitous Depression, and Left Alone. The vocals are taken care of by Tony Hicks from Goatswarth and Trollkjerring, and formerly of Born an Abomination, and Terranaut. Kaskaskia is do-it-yourself, homemade music for fans that enjoy this type of expression. The sound quality is that of a pretty good demo. The vocals are done very well, in a strong and wrathful way, but not shrieky, which makes it more appealing to more fans of DIY BM projects. A nice surprise with the vocals is that there is some melodic singing (the beginning of the second song), and sounds good, and apparently is also done by the same person (?), namely, Tony Hicks (Neither Metal Archives nor Bandcamp mention a guest or some other person doing the singing). The melodic singing seems to appear out of nowhere, given that few people would expect such a talent to show itself in lo-fi, homemade, necro BM. Fans of synths might enjoy some of the more melodic passages in the songs. Sometimes the synths are very melodic, even happy, actually, which adds some joy to this otherwise fierce, raging-at-home-in-my-bedroom black metal. The guitar is that barbed-wire, crackling sound that serves as the spear point leading the speed charge. This should be very enjoyable for fans of DIY melodic black metal, but fans that demand a real drummer and a studio, professional, big-budget production, of course, might not be convinced. On the other hand, this would be even better with live drums on the recording, as these sampled drumming sounds too soft. Finally, if there is bass gui-tar on this recording, to this listener it is not evident. Despite these shortcomings, the songwriting and the skills on display are rather convincing.

Fleecian Winter Majesty by Kaskaskia

https://www.facebook.com/WinterMagicBlackMetal/