Celestial Shadows is the black metal project of Australian multi-instrumentalist, Benjamin Penfold-Marwick. He’s involved in eight other active pursuits that the wider underground scene knows little about. Unleashing album number eight in the tenth year of Celestial Shadow’s formation is impressive, but how does that impact on the quality levels?
A militaristic drumbeat suggests opener, ‘The Wheel’, will be an important mood piece to set the tone of the album. Here, two guitars operate away from each other. One works through the sliding notes, while the other palm-mutes in time to the snares. The audio engineering is clear; the drum hits violent rather than dulled. Why it comes to an end with an abrupt flick of the fade-out button at its peak is hard to fathom.
There are no lo-fi paradoxes on this record, and that’s a good thing. The guitars sizzle in death metal agitation in ‘Cape Arid’. Only the vocals can be criticised here: they’re no better than whispers manipulated at the control desk to sound like screams. The shadow of Bathory is all over it, but you can’t complain about the ferocity if that’s what you want. It’s a different story if you approached this album hoping it would live up to its description as “experimental black metal”. There are thousands of bands that sound like this in 2026. Nothing distinguishes The Wheel and the Fire as unorthodox or willing to push beyond established boundaries. Chords change faster than a flick book animation, but they sometimes sound like a vacuum cleaner contemplating a steep stairway of carpet.
By contrast, ‘Warped Mind’, shows that Celestial Shadows can be more than just superhuman velocity and aggression. A poignant arpeggio finds melody in the harshest of settings – it’s a triumph. Now you can feel the melancholy mood weighing down on you. Yet the only surprising aspects of this music are the regressive ones. An uncharacteristic delve into the twelve-bar blues for ‘Glorious Squalor’ makes it memorable for the wrong reasons. Again, the vocals resemble a gale force wind rather than a human scream. Drawing it out for six minutes is unnecessary, even if you can hear hints of Edge of Sanity’s quirky prog death metal hiding in the turbulence. ‘Darklight’ is another missed opportunity. French horns merge with the tremolo guitars like camouflaged soldiers in the Australian outback. How uninspiring are the vocal screams here? You want them to floor you like Yamatsuka Eye or Mike Patton lending their warped talents to Naked City back in the early 1990s. Alas, they don’t. At least the Celtic Frost dimensions are worth persevering with until the final note.
Let’s be clear: there’s no shortage of grandiosity on this record (see the epic thrash of ‘Serving at the Glory of Ash and Bone’), which elevates it ahead of death metal. If only it had more dynamic variation to make it listenable for at least one repeat. Likewise, the bass guitar receives no attention anywhere on The Wheel and the Fire, which makes you wonder if it’s even there. Fortunately, the black & roll posturing of ‘Bloodaxe’ is quite merciful at the final stages of the listening experience. Drummer, Daniel Coombs, deserves praise for his disciplined performance at the kit. It would be easier for Penfold-Marwick to programme the drums, and it’s to his credit that he chooses outside help in this department.
Were we right to expect something avant-garde here? Closing track, ‘Water’s Edge and the Fire’, is unashamed of its hard rock roots and catchy Thin Lizzy hook. Of course, Penfold-Marwick mangles it in a black metal aesthetic to great effect. Though he could write a song like this every year for the rest of his life, its epic atmosphere of heroic strife has much to commend it. But most of album number eight is an innocuous black metal affair that’s strong on competency and short on imagination.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 01/01/2026
Record Label: Rassilon Records
Standout tracks: Warped Mind; Bloodaxe
Suggested Further Listening: Cirkeln – A Song to Sorrow (2022), VOAK – Verdrängung (2022), Myrholt – Blandede meninger og aforismer (2024)