My Dying Bride have a lot to answer for if, as I suspect, the proliferation of doom death bands across various parts of Europe can be laid at their feet. But while with My Dying Bride you can hear the creative process and inspiration pouring out of every note, less can be said for many others. That said, and while Et Moriemur can be squarely placed in the My Dying Bride clone camp, Ex Nihilo in Nihilum is an enjoyable listen with some nice touches – the 14 minute penultimate track Black Mountain being a perfect example of the easy control that the band has over the aesthetic of its sound. In fact, the whole album, filled as it is with steady doomy riffs, drifting guitar, piano passages and pauses for breath, is actually a very nice antidote to the insanely ambitious and complex albums I’ve spent the last month or so trying to process. Simplicity is its own virtue. Once I’d got my head around that and my inner metronome slowed itself to a snail’s pace, Et Moriemur and I began to get to know each other.
In fact, while My Dying Bride can at times be described as nothing more or less than harrowing, Et Moriemur is all the more warm, as if there is some solace in its utter resignation of the doom-laden pointlessness of human existence (Et Moriemur means ‘and we will die’ in Latin apparently). I’ve always found doom death and funeral doom bands, a genre which this certainly borders upon as well, which I’m most attracted to have a chink of light to let into the music. Et Moriemur never quite reaches those magic crescendos – although there are a couple of times that it comes subtly close – such as on the almost-title-track Nihil. The captivating hook kicks in almost immediately and hangs itself tantalisingly in the background throughout the track before dropping back in at regular intervals. It’s an inspired track and probably my turning point for Ex Nihilo in Nihilum. When you stumble on something like that it allows you to go back and reinterpret the rest of the album.
Which, all in all, is a nicely created slice of doom death that may even appeal to non-fanatics. The acoustic elements give Ex Nihilo In Nihilum a classical feel and the Czechs rarely get bogged down in the utter morosity that this type of bands can fall into and which can sometimes be a turn off. Casual observers may struggle to separate this from a host of other doom death releases out there but, as with many of this type of bands, a bit of perseverance with Et Morimeur could pay dividends.
(7/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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