Bringing together two fairly new bands with very limited releases to their name, this split is a good portend of things to come from each. Frenchmen/man Paramnesia (there is little information to be found online) opens the split with the intriguingly titled III at just under fifteen minutes long, and it's excellent. Building up from post-metal sludge-influenced melodies into a blasting fuzz that has a leg in both traditional and post-black metal camps, it's driven by the riffs and skilful drumming, screaming vocals in the distance very nearly drowned out completely by the music. Taking a turn towards more Cascadian territory with some of the high-pitched riffing, the track has as much in common with post-rock as it does with black metal, although the band have a solid embrace of the genre, particularly later in the song when the blastbeats and atmospheric guitar lines take point. Solid and interesting, Paramnesia have done well here.

Unru hail from Germany and have an angrier take on the genre. Their contribution, the twelve-minute Die welt in der wir sterben, opens with fuzzily ambient riffs before taking a turn for the harder, with a more muscular sound than Paramnesia's track. Again building up, the track bursts into howling fury and holds it well, the guitar again reminiscent of Cascadian metal with the riffing, although it also reminded me of more typical USBM such as Krieg or Leviathan in other moments. And the way it holds these various threads together is impressive, moving from noise to quiet skilfully and keeping your attention throughout. Eventually fading into ambience with a ghostly voice speaking disjointedly in German behind the notes, the track is my favourite of the two and although I look forward to hearing more from both bands (Paramnesia's debut full-length is out in April, at least) Unru have the edge here for me. Listen for yourself and decide at the Bandcamp link above, where the split is available for preorder and on a pay-what-you-like basis.