Afar is one of the many American one man bands devoted to the most atmospheric and introspective black metal. Itay Keren is part of the discreetly known Windfaerer and, for this solo project, he leaves aside the folk soul of his current band to focus entirely on an interpretation of the genre that corresponds perfectly to what would be expected: so we have always rather reasoned times that often appear more accelerated than they actually are, due to the scream mostly exasperated; in fact, not infrequently instead the sound goes towards black doom shores and all in all it turns out to be appreciable just this oscillating between airy passages and oppressive moods. If from those who play black metal in North America is legitimate to expect digressions towards the always welcome sounds of Cascadian matrix (and this occurs in an eloquent way in Cascading Shadows), I.K. does it in a rather measured way, even if the beautiful closing track, Twelve, proves eloquent with respect to a certain way of treating the matter. Selfless is a more than valid work, certainly not so peculiar or disruptive to be essential, but equally deserving of attention and approval from the most attentive fans.

2016 – Independent 2017 – Fólkvangr Records