If only there was another way of describing the various forms of ‘post’ black metal without being as totally dismissive and casually offensive as that description implies. It’s a label that’s almost impossible to get excited about and suggests a watered down, slightly directionless musical sub-genre that defines itself by something that happened in the past. Completely at odds, then, with what most of the bands in the genre manage to achieve and that is particularly so for a band like Mord ‘a’ Stigmata. Mord’s last album was pretty frenetic, very Polish and much more along the lines of blackened death metal than their latest offering. This time round the drums and vocals seem to have faded back a little and the band has swapped the all-out attack for something altogether more sombre.
Ansia is not so much incendiary as it is a slowly immolating darkness that seems to develop its own magnetic pull. A kind of dark, gently swirling void which is at times, despite occasional dissonant breaks, almost tranquil. It splits itself into three intensely atmospheric parts with a bit of a finale to finish off over the final two, shorter tracks. The band describes itself as a mixture between Burzum, Swans, Neurosis, Blut Aus Nord, Sonic Youth, God is an Astronaut and Pink Floyd, if that isn’t too many startlingly individual bands to squeeze into your roster of influences. A sort of spacey doom with shoegazing rock influences and equal doses of atmospheric and depressive black metal. But at the same time it’s far more accessible than the mish-mash of all those elements would imply – carefully constructed into an easy flowing, meandering pathway. It is probably best described as some midway point between black metal and funeral doom – without having the complete disregard for the outside world that those genres sometime tend to display. Ansia has an easy, expansive approach to the song structures and a well thought out and straightforward approach to production and the result is enjoyable in the moment even if it is difficult to remember exactly why afterwards until you’ve heard it a few times.
Perhaps the one complaint I have is that when an album has these songs that are designed to lose yourself in, it could almost have been a little longer than 47 minutes. The tracks manage to combine a certain amount of wandering adventure with spiralling repetition that doesn’t so much cram in the ideas as give you plenty of time to ponder what is there at your leisure. Intense without gripping you by the throat and trying to suffocate you. And while it remains very black metal at its core, Mord is much more self aware than it predecessor, letting the music pull you in rather than ramming it down your throat. Thought-provoking – even if one of those thoughts is: ‘so where the hell is this black metal thing going then?’
(8/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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