Lupus Nocturnus - Suicidal Thoughts, Pt. 1

Genre: Doom Metal
Name: Lupus Nocturnus
Album: Suicidal Thoughts, Pt. 1, 2008
Latin Americans

Here is a midweek post for you, to make up for my computer's failings. I'm having to use a public computer to do this. Still, we struggle on nonetheless.

Lupus Nocturnus (latin for "night wolf") are a Mexican black metal outfit from Mexico (that's another flag for the wall-map) who have only two releases - a split EP with Infernal Hate (which was faster than this, and far closer to their "black metal" label), and this full-length. It's almost an hour long, but only four tracks, with one exceeding twenty minutes in length.

Musically, it's generally quite slow - closer to dark and doom metal than black metal. Compare it to Trancelike Void's heavier stuff, only less black and more grey - in fact, I believe that I even mentioned them in that review. However, the key difference between them and all the other black/dark bands out there is the vocalist. Note the careful avoidance of the word "singer", because I doubt many people would care to describe the sounds which pass his throat as singing. However, it certainly noteworthy - he manages to sound very similar to the wolf to which the band's name refers. This, I'll admit, could be seen as a novelty; however, I think that it is actually - well, not musical, but certainly an interesting change.

Aside from the vocals, however, there is not a huge range of musical ingenuity - it is, for the most part, the same old chords changing every bar or two - not varied or oddly timed enough for post-metal, not fast enough for punk. It's got low production value, but that, I feel, adds to the atmosphere, which it has in great quantities.

However, they are perfectly good at what they do, and their interesting vocals stand out from the (not too large) crowd of black/dark metal bands, thus making them worth a listen. Enjoy!

Summary: Good, for what it is. Worth a listen, if you like this sort of stuff

Lyrical Themes: Howling...

Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. Intro (Suicidal Thoughts)
2. Depressive Landscapes
3. Immense Loneliness
4. Dying On The Mountain


Myspace
Download

Dream Theater Bootlegs

Hey,

Sorry, but this week (note subtle hint at the possibility of regular posts) I don't have time for a full review. Instead, enjoy these covers of classic albums

Dream Theater have covered, live, these three albums: Number Of The Beast by Iron Maiden, Master Of Puppets by Metallica and Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Enjoy!

Download Number Of The Beast
Download Master Of Puppets
Download Dark Side Of The Moon

Haken - Aquarius

Genre: Progressive Metal
Name: Haken
Album: Aquarius, 2010
Saint-Saens gets an update

VISIONS: COMING SOON!
Check back after October 25th for Haken's new album

Firstly, I would like to offer an apology for the recent (and not so recent) lack of posts. I have, like so many bloggers, it seems, had far too much on. However, the supply of time now exceeds my demand for it, and so time is cheap. Hence this post.

I was flicking through the blog the other day when I realised that I had posted no progressive metal at all. This, I felt, was a travesty. Therefore I resolved to post some as soon as I could, and could think of no better band to choose than Haken.

As with most of my random bands, I was at first drawn in, if you'll pardon the pun, by the artwork. But, unlike so many other albums, Aquarius lives up to the cover. It tells the story of a child born with fins and a tail, and what happens to it. But this is told exceedingly well. The singer is very talented, and the lyrics are also worthy of praise, although they occasionally leave a little to be desired.

However, it is the instrumentation that makes this album the masterpiece it is. Firstly, there a wide-ranging set of instruments is employed: trombones, trumpets, clarinets and flutes all add to the harmonies, and even the strings of a harp can be heard. However, it is not just this variety that makes it so good: the "core" instruments - guitars, bass and, for Haken, the keyboards all are brilliantly written and exceedingly well arranged. For example, if you take the introduction to the second track, Streams, you find the piano with a lovely melodic tune, then added too by some nice cymbal-work, with the other instruments coming in well over the top. However, the instruments are all playing their part - none are just filler.
They also ignore convention, as progressive bands tend to do, and often use odd time-signatures: for example, the chorus of Aquarium switches to 7/8 time for two bars, then back to more conventional times, and then back again. In addition, the songs are allowed to flower, given the full time they need to expand and develop themselves; often over ten minutes in length, they expand even up to seventeen for the final and fantastic conclusion to the album.

However, it is all very well to write music and stick words on the top of it, like an old glacé cherry atop a lovingly prepared cake. However, Hakenhave refused to do that. Their music works with their lyrics, not around it, and it is not made subordinate. I think that it fits the concept perfectly. Keeping to the same section, the piano fits perfectly with the story - it gives a great sense of the flowing water of the stream, with its tinkling melody. And it is not just Haken who had this idea. The more classically inclined amongst you will already be thinking of one Camille Saint-Saens, a Romantic composer who wrote the famous 14-movement suite The Carnival Of The Animals. One of the movements is called Aquarium, and the melody is carried by not one but two separate pianos, playing glissandos and Chopin-esque ostinatos. That, too, gave, and indeed gives, a brilliant sense of water.

If I had to make one criticism, however - and I probably do - it would be that the songs often do not work as well as individual tracks, but only as an album. There are a few that sound just as good on their own, but, for the most part, you have to spend a good seventy-seven minutes listening to the whole thing.

Despite this, however, due to the astounding music, the brilliant lyrics, the range of influences and the general excellence of the album, I would recommend this to all of you. Enjoy!

Summary: Brilliant melodies, written as music not as riffs, combined with a fascinating concept. Well worth a listen.
Lyrical Themes: A concept album about a mermaid, of sorts, born to a human couple
Rating: 9/10
Track listing:
1. The Point Of No Return
2. Streams
3. Aquarium
4. Eternal Rain
5. Drowning In The Flood
6. Sun
7. Celestial Elixir

Myspace

Download

P.S. If anyone can find and link me to either of their two demos, which I have not been able to track down, that would be much appreciated. Thanks, and enjoy!

Drop Dead, Gorgeous - Worse Than A Fairy Tale

Genre: Post-Hardcore
Name: Drop Dead, Gorgeous
Album: Worse Than A Fairy Tale, 2007


Welcome to Saylor Lake

Firstly, I should just point out that this is not metal. So don't complain that it isn't.

This is, by a long way, one of my favourite albums of all time. It is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is not tuneful. It is not melodic. It is not harmonic. But, by gum, it's pretty much perfect.

Its a concept album based around a serial killer, who lives in the (fictional) town of Saylor Lake. His - or her - murders are each the subject of a single track. And, with that in mind, you can perhaps understand why harmony or melody are not top of the list in writing this - it's designed, much like Psycho Killer by Talking Heads, to get inside the mind of someone who's slightly insane. You need discordance to create that effect.

The album's first killer track, if you'll pardon the pun, is the second track, Drawing The Devil. It has the perfect combination of chaotic drums and squealing guitar, but then eerie hushes as the vocalist whispers words which whisk down your spine ans send shivers sliding down your shirt. It's brilliant.

Another example of what Drop Dead, Gorgeous are capable of - when they're not in school - is found in the closing track. Once again, there is a combination of haunting lyrics with echoing bass, and then the crashing of cymbals and shrieking of slaughtered guitars. Then, with the piano, the aforementioned shivers once again return, and you spend the next week checking behind doors, and keeping clear of all water, just in case it's Saylor Lake.

The album continues in similar fashion, which creates a twofold effect: First, it means you can listen to the album straight through completely content, and second, if you're one of those blasphemers who use the 'shuffle' function - which I cannot condemn enough - then it means that if any of these songs comes up, your fingers don't fly instantly to the skip button.

Summary: A horrifying album which will have you listening to track after track on repeat.
Lyrical Themes: Serial killing
Rating:9/10
Track listing:
1. Red Or White Wine?
2. Drawing The Devil
3. The Pleasure To End All Pleasures
4. Worse Than A Fairy Tale
5. They'll Never Get Me (Word With You)
6. It Sounded Like An Accident
7. 45223
8. It's Pretty Hard To Beat The King
9. Donner Party Of Five
10. Saylor Lake
11. Bye Bye Blues (The Whole West Coast Is Ruined)
12. I Want To Master Life And Death

Myspace
Download

Website
This is definitely worth a visit. Very helpful in exploring the songs.

Trancelike Void - Destroying Something Beautiful

Dual Review:




















Genre: Black Metal
Name: Trancelike Void
Album: Destroying Something Beautiful (2008)and Silhouettes of Misery (2010).
Deep Thought II

Thirteen posts and already I'm resorting to the same artists. Ah well.

Anyhoo, you may remember that last time I reviewed these Belgians, all the way back in April, I reviewed an EP of theirs, and, whilst it was good, it wasn't particularly great: 22 minutes and about 6 riffs. However, various sources informed me that I had picked a particularly unusal output for the duo, and I wasn't showing them in their true glory, so I promised a review of something else of theirs shortly.

And, as always, I forgot.


However, I went through my posts the other day to see what I'd promised you, and, sure enough there it was. A quick trip to the internet, and I have two reviews for you: the one I owed, plus interest.

Destroying Something Beautiful is Black Metal, but not in the syle of Abigail Williams. This is more abstract, more like Burzum or Lupus Nocturnus (both coming soon - well, soon-ish. Maybe a month). It's a mix of the heavy, pounding, slow, repetitious chords, distorted and layered on top of simple drums and new-age-esque, harmonious, abstract interludes, much shorter than their grittier partners. Also, for once, tracks labelled as interludes actually act as interludes, rather than just being a short sound clip they liked but couldn't actually fit anywhere else (I'm looking at you, Enter Shikari).

It is certainly more diverting than The Stone Pond, and keeps the attention far more easily. While it is perhaps slightly simpler - okay, significantly simpler in composition than that EP, which used more than three strings, I prefer it. This is mostly because it's just my thing - (mostly) instrumental, heavy, fairly depressing - and I can certainly see that people might not agree with me. However, this album has an advantage over its predecessor because it's possible to hear it without the volume raised to the maximum possible level.

Despite the interludes, which certainly create interesting diversions - and, in fact, even including them - this album remains probably far too simple for most people. The chords follow mostly the same patterns, with only the occasional diversion, the drums are simple and certainly aren't "driving", and the whole thing seems almost willing to fade into the background. Even the interludes only get your attention because they're not the same sequence on repeat. However, as I've said, this is what I like. It's my cup of tea (Earl Grey, no milk, no sugar, a little bit of lemon). I enjoyed it, especially the exceptionally atmospheric epilogue, which is closer to a none-acoustic Where The Trees Can Make It Rain


Silhouettes Of Misery, however, is much closer to that EP than Destroying Something Beautiful. For starters, it's acoustic, and therefore doesn't have those pulsing chords of Destroying Something Beautiful. It's based a lot more on simple, repeated riffs than heavy and distorted chords, although there are acoustic equivalents. But there is nothing to say on this album, really. I have just sat through the three-quarters of an hour it took me to play it through, and found nothing worth commenting on that makes it any different from Where The Trees Can Make It Rain. The only thing I can think of - and I'm really grasping at straws here - is that the drums appear more, but that's mostly because it's longer. There's nothing wrong with it, I didn't actively dislike it, but it just didn't do anything to grab my attention. It just made me sit and think (in this case, about html - how do I get one link to open two tabs?), and I that's probably the point. It certainly was a lot more effective in this regard than Destroying Something Beautiful, and I'm sure a lot of people like it. However, I'd only have it on as white noise, or as something peaceful if I were a hippy and wanted to meditate.

Overall, Trancelike Void are a band that, if not obsessively introspective themselves, certainly encourage their listeners to be. They do compose music that holds the attention like a sieve holds water, but when you return from the ether of your thoughts, you emerge into a calm and controlled auditory landscape, sterilised and peaceful, and fairly pleasant. That is what it's about, I suppose, and I'm sure many people find this helpful. However, I'm capable of thinking deeply without musical supplements, so certainly Silhouettes Of Misery isn't for me.

Summary: Calm thought-provoking music, but not something you can rock out to.
Rating: 7/10 and 6/10

Track listing:
Destroying Something Beautiful
1. Prelude: Descent
2. Part I: Everything Falls
3. Interlude I: Daydream
4. Part II: Fragile Conciousness
5. Interlude II: Nightmare
6. Part III: Total Desolation
7. Epilogue: Escape

Silhouettes Of Misery
1. Paranoid Melancholy
2. One Bridge Drowned
3. Blood
4. An Essence Of Tragedy

Myspace

Download
Download 2

Abigail Williams - Legend EP

Genre: Black Metal
Name: Abigail Williams
Album: Legend (2007)
And mark this — let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.

This was a landmark moment for me. Back in the good old days, when the HMV metal section was three units wide, and they had bands other than the big four and Taking Back Sunday, I found this for but a trifle and snapped it up. I later found where I'd heard the name before - Arthur Miller's The Crucible, based on the Salem Witch Trials, hence the quote above (On a side note, it's a good play. Go out into the real world and see it some time). Anyway, I had my first black metal album, and I've never regretted it.

It is, unfortunately, quite short - 20 minutes, 5 songs - but it is brilliant. The Conqueror Wyrm is, for me, the flagship track. Its introduction catches you like a sever dose of cholera, and the sudden slow section stop your heart with sorrowful sublimity. Then as the song fades away and you are left with a crackling recording of an aged man, your pulse slowly fades away, flat-lining into the silence. Yes, this song probably isn't good for your health, but nothing fun ever is. Like catching bullets in the gap between your ear and your skull. That would explain why, with only one full-length release, they've already got 18 ex-members.

But its not just the one track that's awesome. The piano in Watchtower is exquisite, the vocals permanently sound just like a banshee "sucking a scream to stab me with", the drummer is probably the first octopus-human hybrid, and the guitar lines are simply superb. The lyrics aren't perhaps the most unique, but they're certainly not bad.

As always, however, there are moments where you suspect that they felt obliged to make the track longer but couldn't come up with anything, so just put some notes together and played them really fast. But fortunately these moments are few and far between, and even when they do occur, they're blissfully brief, and, at any rate, no worse than plenty of other bands.

In short, the whole thing is rather good, and is what got me into Black Metal in the first place. Go have a listen, and you'll see why they have always been in my ten favourite bands.

Summary: Melodic Black Metal, done very well
Lyrical Themes: Nonsensical metaphors in general, based on death, darkness and the cosmos. Some simply based around quotes.
Rating: 8/10

Track listing:
1. From A Buried Heart
2. Like Carrion Birds
3. The Conqueror Wyrm
4. Watchtower
5. Procession Of The Aeons

Myspace (no songs from this EP)
Download

Changes to Format.

Hey,

This is mostly a general administrative post, for my own benefit as much as yours.

Point the first:
I am aware that I have promised much an delivered little. As a result, with as many as possible in the next week (before Friday), I will review the following, which I have promised before:

Abigail Williams - Legend (oft mentioned, but never actually reviewed)

Celtic Frost - Monotheist

Cult Of Luna - Salvation

Drop Dead, Gorgeous - Worse Than A Fairy Tale

Throes Of Dawn - The Great Fleet Of Echoes

and

A full-length release by Trancelike Void

Point the Second:
Following these reviews, I will then no longer review everything I upload. I will probably do about one a week, and this will be on the Friday. The reason for this is twofold - firstly, it means I only need to review albums I actually have something interesting to say about, rather than everything that I'd like to put up, and secondly, it will enable me to post more music. This means I can put up discographies, or more famous albums that you can find better reviews of elsewhere online.
For the music which I am not reviewing, however, I will still write a paragraph or two so you know what you're downloading, rather than just clicking the link and hoping.
This will start some time in September.

Point the third:
You may have noticed that, as of my Lamb Of God review, I have moved to Mediafire to store my files. This is because Rapidshare and Megaupload, my previous hosts, do not allow parallel downloads, and force wait times before and after file downloads. Mediafire does not, so I assumed you would prefer it. To see everything that I have uploaded from 19/07/2010, go to http://www.mediafire.com/echoswolf
I have also gone to scores out of 10, rather than 100, because 100 was fairly arbitrary: what's the difference between 85 and 86?
However, if I were to use decimal points, that would defeat the point, so, from now, only integer scores out of ten.

/admin

Echo's Wolf out
\m/\-.-/\m/

Lamb Of God - Sacrament

Genre: Death Metal

Name: Lamb Of God

Album: Sacrament (2006)

Virginia: where Death Metal is good

Now, as you may have guessed from previous reviews, I am not the biggest fan of Death Metal. I have the odd band that deserves its place on my iTunes - Opeth, for example, or Lair Of The Minotaur (although the latter is mostly because of the names - I mean, "Assassins Of The Cursed Mist" is just hilarious), but as a general rule, I shun Death Metal, making sure that it is kept alone in the corner of the room with the Dunce hat on its head. I don't like it much. In fact, that is somewhat of an understatement. I think Death Metal did for Metal what Stalin did for Communism.

There are, on Encyclopaedia Metallum over twenty-six thousand Death Metal bands, accounting for over 35% of the total number of bands on the website. By contrast, Thrash Metal has only 17 thousand, Heavy has only 11 and Power a mere 5 (they have 11 genres in total, so the mean value is about 6,000. Death metal has over 4 times this amount).
This is, of course, not counting the thousands more bands out there, as yet unsigned. The true figure is probably over thirty thousand, even being conservative. Death Metal is saturating its own market. To bring it closer to home, a friend of mine quit the band purely because it was Death Metal, and he realised that it was never going anywhere.

But why does this subgenre proliferate, whereas others remain confined to the shadows and lurk in the depths of obscurity? I think the answer is fairly simple - it's easy to play.
Most Death Metal songs are in commontime and are played in straight quavers, semiquavers and crotchets. Most Death Metal songs are riff-based and use repeated power chords as their main tune. Most Death Metal songs are short, most Death metal songs have a bass copying the guitar and most Death Metal songs have, in some form or another, the beat blast drumming. It is this kind of simplicity that often drives people to metal in the first place – they’re sick of hearing the same I-IV-V-I chord structure on the radio, with whichever band happens to be popular at the moment droning over the top about whichever girl the singer saw on the train going to the recording studio.

Let me assure you that I accept this is a generalisation. I know that not all bands are play in 4-4, not all bands keep to the same chord pattern for the whole song and not all bands have unoriginal and ancillary drums, but it is perfectly true for most Death Metal bands, and that cannot be disputed.
Everything about the songs is designed to sound difficult: Yes, the songs are fast, and yes, it is difficult to get up to that speed, but not that difficult – most guitarists or drummers can play at these speeds, and whilst they should be proud of this, it is not a unique feature – these are not a “select few” by any stretch of the imagination. The vocals are designed to sound hard to replicate, and yes they are – you can damage your vocal chords significantly by doing this, even to the point, supposedly, of throat cancer. They are difficult to do, in the same what that it’s difficult to swallow a live grenade whole – that doesn’t mean that it’s impressive.

But besides this, everything seems added-on to the main piece. Let’s look at it on an instrument by instrument basis. The Guitar is often just the same one or two simple riffs on repeat. The bass usually is just mirroring the guitar, and the drums are just there to add to the noise. The vocals – well, I’ll get onto them in a minute, if you can bear the suspense.

In short, the entire thing is just noise, with these things added on to give the pretence of music. Every instrument is there simply because it “needs” to be there. You couldn’t have a band without a guitar, so let’s throw something in for that. The same for bass, and the same for drums, and the same for vocals.

But the vocals themselves demand attention in their own right. Firstly, unlike most other genres, they are not poetic, nor are they designed to be. They are, often, prose. There is nothing wrong with that at all. But look at the contents:

My Latex Queen, by Dark Funeral
Latex queen - feel my tongue in deep
Whirls around - climax is almost found
I rise to my feet - erection slides in deep
I pound you hard - latex queen feels so sweet
Feels so sweet...

Psychopathologist, by Carcass
I like to slide my hand inside your stomach
And rip out the putrid remains,
Drink the pus and munch on the internal organs
Until all the casket is drained.

Necropedophile, by Cannibal Corpse
I begin the dead sex, licking her young, rotted orifice
I cum in her cold cunt, shivering with ecstasy
for nine days straight I do the same
She becomes by dead, decayed child sex slave
her neck I hack, cutting through the back
I use her mouth to eject

Another song, from the aforementioned band of my friend, was called “Trepanation”. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the practice of drilling holes in people’s heads to relieve headaches. And yes, it was described in graphic detail.

These lyrics are disgusting – intentionally so. And that is part of the problem. The whole point of Death Metal is “sticking it to the man”. It’s about dragging up the sordid elements of humanity, about the hypocrisy of society, about breaking free from social norms and doing your own thing – Anarchy. (Ironically, you’re not, because there are twenty six-thousand other bands doing the same thing, but that’s already been said). There’s nothing wrong with that. But instead of pointing out these problems, or commenting on them, they instead simply try to shock people. They want people to be revolted. They feel obliged to, as a Death Metal band. Occasionally, they put on a facade of intelligence by using long or scientific words – Putrefaction, enzyme, lecherous – but overall these add nothing – they are describing these things for the sake of it. They are easy to write about, and they have great effect. When you’re trying to add lyrics to a song, why not just fall back on this generic and unoriginal topic? It’s a quick, simple fix.

Now, I coul abide all this – I don’t complain about the Satanism or National Socialism abundant in Black Metal. I don’t complain about My Dying Bride’s “erotic” lyrics. I don’t complain about the more simplistic and dull melodies found in much Thrash metal – if it were not for one thing. Death Metal is seen as representative of all metal. And this infuriates me.

Ask any fan of The Killers or of Jay-Z or of Eminem what metal sounds like, and they will always, without fail, say that it is screaming and fast and loud. Never mind the fact that Metallica, the most famous metal band in the world (open to dispute, but I would say so) are not representative of this. Death Metal makes its mark – it crops up in the news as the reason why some teenagers have murdered some other teenager, for example, and people assume that all metal is like that. And that is simply not true. Not all metal is angry. Not every metalhead is a Satanist. We don’t all run round in corpse paint with knives in our hands trying to mutilate defenceless old ladies in Tesco before devouring the beaten heart with our recently-bought ketchup and chips. We are all tarnished with the same brush. And that is unfair.

So, in summary, the reasons I hate Death Metal are as follows:
1. It’s simple to the point of being boring
2. It’s far too dominant for its own good
3. It is designed purely to shock, and no thought that goes into either the lyrics or the music
4. It is seen as a representation of all metal, and hence people have preformed opinions about you when you say you listen to “metal”.
5. It’s not very good.

My apologies for this somewhat excessively long rant and for who disjointed it is. I will come back to it and edit it at some point. Now, onto the main business of the post.

After all this, you may be wondering why I have put Lamb of God up for your listening pleasure. It’s this simple: they don’t suck. They are one of the few Death Metal bands who, for one reason or another, don’t actually sound like the defacatory matter which their song is describing. The reasons in Lamb of God’s case are as follows. The riffs, whilst they are riffs, are interesting, and aren’t just simple chords on repeat. The lyrics actually have required some thought, and are about something the writer actually knows about, or has experienced (which I hope so much can’t be said about Cannibal Corpse). But, most of all, the drummer is a god.
This album in particular embodies all these features, so that is why I have posted it. Yes, it’s fairly old , but for those of you who haven’t heard any Lamb Of God before (do you live in a cave?), it’s a good starting point. But most of all, it proves that there is such a thing as good death metal
Enjoy!



Summary: Death Metal sucks, except for this album, and a very few others.
Lyrical Themes: Anger, Why Various Unnamed People Suck, Posers
Rating: 8/10

Track listing:
1. Walk With Me In Hell
2. Again We Rise
3. Redneck
4. Pathetic
5. Foot To The Throat
6. Descending
7. Blacken The Cursed Sun
8. Forgotten (Lost Angels)
9. Requiem
10. More Time To Kill
11. Beating On Death's Door

Myspace
Download

Saturnus - Martyre

Genre: Doom Metal

Name: Saturnus

Album: Martyre (2000)

Who says metal can't be soothing?

Saturnus, as far as I can discover, have very little particularly interesting or noteworthy about them, so I cannot fill this post with my usual random useless titbits of information, except for the fact that they have had 8 ex-guitarists, which, all things considered, is quite a lot.

Anyway, on to the main business of the day: the album itself. Whilst the band may not be noteworthy, the music certainly is. This starts, like all good Inspector Morse episodes, with a choir, vocalising an exceedingly plaintive tune, which immediately grabbed my attention - I'm a sucker for choirs, not least those who sing in Latin. This artfully arranged piece, cryptically named "7" is followed by the equally excellent "Inflame Thy Heart", which changes styles significantly - no more the choral majesty, but rise the growled death vocals, complete with obligatory raven and night references. The guitar line is exactly slow enough to maintain interest while inviting contemplation (compare with Sunn 0))) ). But the excellently stately fretwork is swiftly surpassed by the piano, wrapping up the song with ornate and sorrowful ease.

Track 3 is more brash and abrasive, and brings to mind My Dying Bride with its temptress-based lyrics, and, in short, is a sharp turn from the past tracks. This is followed by another contrast, and another, and the whole is soon less than the sum of its parts. Whilst this album is made up of excellent songs, they do not fit together - they are great individual songs, but this album has the feel more of a compilation than an album in its own right.

"Lost My Way" is, for example, close to thrash (not quite, but getting there), and whilst it is an excellent track, with amazing backing vocals and guitar riffs which demand, and receive, undivided attention, it's not quite what the album left you expecting.

The closer, however, does precisely what is required. The acoustic intro, followed by keyboard backing and suitably whispered devotions to some bright-eyed girl. It gives an excellent sense of closure, whilst leaving you wanting more (if you'll excuse the somewhat cheesy oxymoron).

As a whole, the album is worth a listen. The vocals, be they choir, clean or cathartic growls, are not, as on other albums, an obligitary addition, but complement the music very well; the drums are simplistic but effective; the guitar carries mournful music with ease and efficiency; in short, excellent doom metal.

Summary: A great introduction to Doom Metal. If you haven't heard any before, or are being recommended it, try this.
Lyrical Themes: Sorrow, Loss, Death, Temptresses
Rating: 7/10

Track listing:
1. 7
2. Inflame Thy Heart
3. Empty Handed
4. Noir
5. A Poem (Written In Moonlight)
6. Softly on the Path You Fade
7. Thou Art Free
8. Drown My Sorrow
9. Lost My Way
10. Loss (In Memoriam)
11. Thus My Heart Weepeth for Thee
12. In Your Shining Eyes

Myspace

Download

Carach Angren - Death Came Through A Phantom Ship

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

Name: Carach Angren

Album: Death Came Through A Phantom Ship (2010)

Don't listen to this alone

It's back.

Sorry for the delays. As I said, I had a lot on my plate. But it's all finished now, so expect more of these.

Now, the main business. I'll make no bones about it: Carach Angren are, by a long, long way, my favourite Black Metal band. They haven't done a huge amount: a couple of EPs and a pair of full length albums, but what they have done is astounding.
This album is certainly their best work, and I'll tell you why.

When I first heard of this band, I didn't expect much of them: the subject matter didn't seem particularly unique, their names were obviously fake, and they just seemed pretty much standard: nothing notable, but possibly worth a listen.

I set off that night, plugged in my headphones and set the album running. Electronic Voice Phenomena seeped into my ears like blood through a rotten floorboard. My heart raced and I had scarcely rounded the corner before I was checking over my shoulder for cursed daemons of the night or other beings from the netherworld and dragging my twitching hand from the skip button. My shadow had become a doppelganger, intent on devouring me. The street lights flickered as if controlled by some malevolent force. The very air had frozen, in anticipation of my impending bloody slaughter. In short, the atmospheric opener scared me more than any thoughts of a serial killer ever had, would or could. Quite a good start.

I no longer paid any attention to where I was going; my feet took over as I focused on this audible ambrosia that was filtering into my ears. I was shocked to discover myself in the park when I looked up. The Sighting Is A Portent Of Doom kept up this unsurpassed style, with brilliantly arranged orchestral movements blending seamlessly into the driving guitars and double-bass drums. The brass comes in to close it, perfectly timed, with echoes of the Wolf theme of Prokofiev.

But it only got better. The third track is practically a horror movie in itself - I never thought that I would class shotgun blasts and falling corpses as music - and there on the tale of the nautical psychopath is mirrored perfectly by the backdrop of excellent orchestration and just general musical brilliance. Themes are played that are practically perfect, and I cannot find a single bad note or undeveloped phrase in the entire thing. Not once do they resort to blast-beat drumming, nor to simplistic rhythyms for but an instant. Yes, they do sometimes base themselves, briefly, on straight 16th bass drums, but never at the expense of the song, and never with every thing else made simple: always they have something interesting, something that seizes your ear and props it open with matchsticks.

But what makes this so special is that it is, in the absolute meaning of the word, unique. No other band could come up with this, nor would be able to do it justice when covering it, and I don't say this lightly. This is most easily shown by the lyrics. During Bloodstains On The Captain's Log, they list the cargo of the ship. Now, I know that sounds dull, even on a par with The Catalogue Of Ships (if you don't get the reference, get out. Now.), but it isn't. Somehow, "ivory and opium" is exactly what you want to hear. You realise that it's a "glimpse in his eyes", not a glint, that would be different. "A vicious false dog" is the perfect description. As you can see, the lyrics are certainly different. My personal opinion is that they were written in Dutch originally, and then translated. Certainly, that would explain "Weigh the anchor and hoist the sails!
Work harder you drunken snails!
For treasury like pepper as gold.
Let this nautical voyage begin.
We are powered by strong European winds."

But if you want a true measure of their individuality is the 6th track, which acts as an interlude: Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood (Even if it means my Death). The entire song uses just one tom (or perhaps timpani). There are sound effects of the ship, and you can even hear actual singing (not shrieks) - and it's rather good singing too. It exquisitely conveys fear, without need for screams or speed, but simply with a few violins and some trombones. It show their skill at arrangements, if nothing else. It is, in short, the perfect example of why Carach Angren should be a lot more famous than they are.

Summary: The pinnacle of Black Metal. Think Abigail Williams meets Beethoven at the cinema whilst watching a Ghost Ship. Oh, and they're both on LSD.
Lyrical Themes: It's a concept album about ghost ships, possession and divine curses.
Rating:9/10

Track listing:
1. Electronic Voice Phenomena
2. The Sighting Is A Portent Of Doom
3. And The Consequence Macabre
4. Van Der Decken's Triumph
5. Bloodstains On The Captain's Log
6. Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood
7. Departure Towards A Nautical Curse
8. The Course Of A Spectral Ship
9. The Shining Was A Portent Of Gloom

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