"Mldthr" is the second self-released album from Virginia's rather unique one-man black metal act Wrnlrd - who is almost certainly among the more obscure black metal projects currently active within the US, truly existing outside of any "scene" and creating for the purpose of self above all else. The project's material is largely improvisational in structure, which makes sense considering the wealth of experimental noise types of influences tied to Wrnlrd's take on black metal, from murky dark ambient atmospheres to the cascading walls of raw guitar textures surrounding many of the riffs - which range from rugged power chords and harshly chaotic blasts to discordant midpaced runs and atonal phrasings. The vocals are also made up of various snarling wails and howls, taking the improvisation to an intriguing level in that the lyrics are assembled post-performance to fit the sounds of the vocal textures emitted during the recording process. Admittedly there are elements of the recording limitations that shroud certain details of the performances and lack some degree of "warmth" (not to be confused with the "cold" aesthetics so often associated with the genre, as such attributes do not necessarily have to be tied to the physical tones of a recording), so there is room for improvement, but I feel that Wrnlrd has a very admirable sense of creativity and vision in place, and the potential that comes along with such is a force to respect.

Some may find $8 per CD-R to be a bit pricy, but I must assure you that these are simply the most professional CD-R's I've ever encountered: It's literally almost impossible to tell the difference between these self-released CD-R's and professionally pressed CD's - right down to the two-color screenprinting on the disc face as well as the quality of both the paper parts and assembly. I could easily believe that these are in fact CD releases. Oh, and as with other prolific US black metal artists, Wrnlrd's next three releases are already in the works!? I'll be quite curious to see how the artist continues to evolve, and hope the material will start to gain more interest in the future, as this project is certainly exploring realms beyond the standard tenets of the genre - both musically and lyrically. Curious, indeed.

Tracklist:
1. Dthrlm
2. Order of the Cloven Eye
3. Waerleogan
4. Rite of Cares Cremation
5. Crushed by Wing and Thorax
6. Monitor of the Golden Maze of Earth
7. Afterdeath Vehicle
8. Orbital Curse
9. Mldthr

Running time - 45:35
Year of release - 2006