When you think about it, the works of cosmic horror author H. P. Lovecraft should be a near perfect fit for black metal. The omnipresent themes of mankind’s insignificance in the face of uncaring, alien powers play directly into black metal ideals of nihilism, despair, and godlessness; mankind is alone and completely vulnerable in a universe that, if not openly hostile, sure as hell doesn’t care if the entirety of earth gets destroyed as a side effect of whatever it happens to be doing. That said, groups that incorporate his ideas aren’t terribly common: the only ones that come to mind are Bal Sagoth, Thergothon, and, though they feature less in the bands’ output, Metallica and Watain (see “Stellarvore”). Enter Brown Jenkins, with their first EP, Dagonite.

The band name and the title are blatant, albeit somewhat obscure, references, and the song titles play into the theme as well. Beyond this, however, the influence is primarily atmospheric, since the lyrics are either absent from most of the songs or unintelligible. The vocals, in the songs where they’re present, such as the title track, generally consist of deep, gutteral growls that may or may not just be wordless screams; I honestly can’t tell. These overlay a series of slow-moving, relentless guitar riffs, accompanied by equally unhurried yet inexorable drumming. Doom influence is strong here and, thematically, it works; fast or frantic music wouldn’t really fit with the sense of creeping horror Lovecraft’s works evoke. The fuzziness of the guitar noise also helps the atmosphere, adding a layer of inhumanity to the work augmented by the industrial crunching of the rhythm guitar. Fuzziness should not be confused with poor production, however; the several layers of guitar work, as well as even the bass at times, are clearly audible.

Despite the atmosphere on the songs, though, I never feel that this fully works. For one, the songs do very little to distinguish themselves; each song religiously follows the formula I outlined earlier, although some—“Aeons of Crawling”, for one—feature noticeable acceleration of tempo towards the end. While this sameness needn’t be a deal-breaker, the often uninspired quality of the riffs hamstrings the album. The riffs aren’t strictly bad, per se, just forgettable and without purpose—the songs never really feel like they’re moving anywhere, seeming instead to just repeatedly trade one motif for another, without the greater sense of songwriting that saved equally repetitive albums like Transilvanian Hunger from banality. From a thematic standpoint, this is a large failing: music like this should crescendo at points, should have a buildup to a complete sense of doom. As it is, the songs mainly just meander around, hinting at menace without fully realizing it.

On the balance, the album isn’t bad, just mediocre. There’s a lot of music here for an EP; 36 minutes is longer than some band’s full-lengths (Gorgoroth and Finntroll, I’m looking at you). Unfortunately, not much happens with it. If you worship fervently at the altar of Lovecraft, you’ll probably appreciate the album, at least a bit, but you won’t really get into it unless you really like your black metal seasoned thoroughly with doom. There’s potential here, but more needs to happen before it’s fully realized.