If you pay attention to the death metal scene like I do almost religiously it has to be said you’ll quickly realise that Germany is producing some of the best death metal bands around surpassing their forebears with staggering, challenging and identifiable releases and now we have another to add to the roster of German talent. This is a debut full length (band has an EP out in 2012) but you wouldn’t know it, and although the band members have been or are in other projects the end result of “Trance Of Death” is stunning. This is not an easy listen by any means as the album is 50 minutes long with seven songs and the first one is a two-minute intro to give you some idea of death metal colossus you are about to endure. Appropriately titled the album starts with the intro called “Entrance” a sprawling and distorted classical like intro piece that lures the listener in with its low, sombre and almost sleepy tones before “Merging Nebular Drapes” kicks the endurance off. As the song starts there is a suffocating atmosphere as the riff seems to arrive in slow motion like a sonic landslide. Picking the pace up the song releases a torrent of double bass that equates to a pyroclastic flow sucking the life out of your soul depriving you of oxygen only for it to relent when the blast occurs. The lead work is creepy and leads into the even more creepy segue of guitar hooks and a slower pervasive aura that is typical of the album overall.
“The Nature Of The Ground” announces itself rudely with a rancorous blast and despairing vocal atrocities as the riff is weird but strangely alluring and catchy. Insanity reigns within the death obsessed and toxic world of Venenum as the tempo changes arrive copiously as do the lead breaks which are expertly positioned and deftly played. The decrease in pace is abyssal, plunging the listener into a funereal quagmire that gradually speeds up brilliantly towards its finale. The album is sort of divided into two as the first half ends with “Cold Threat”, a squally auditory confrontation splattered with those ghostly lead breaks and a percussive focus that sees the drums adorn the song with various fills whilst a soaring high pitched solo circles the song before the jolting change to a snare roll and doom like riff. Again, the song sequentially speeds up hurtling towards a virulent riff as a blackened approach is detected with the vocals being bellowed like noxious breath.
The second half of the album, as I have decided to split it, comprises a 25 minute plus three-part epic title track going under the subtitles of “Reflections”, “Metanoia Journey” and “There Are Other Worlds…”. I said that this album was not easy, might even be an ordeal for some as the first part of the trilogy begins with backing noises leading to a guitar fade in and blurring blast beat that almost renders the snare inaudible. The riffing hooks deployed are ingenious, adding textural dexterity with the continual lead solos which are aplenty on this album and all unique. Going almost unnoticed due to the guitar work, is the bass riffing which courses through the song coalescing as a dense umbral shroud. As the track closes the bass is left isolated (sounds a bit like the bass piece of Iron Maiden’s “Rime Of The Ancient Mariner” if I’m honest), until the cymbal strokes gently enter and a solemn riff starts. That riff evolves into a mesmeric hook, beautifully poised in the song as a Hammond like keyboard backdrop is added creating drama and emotion that yield for a sublime guitar solo that had me thinking of occult rock act Ghost. The last 14 minutes are left to the third part and after the beauteous part two I wondered where this song would go as part two left curtailed with an awe-inspiring lead and spine tingling atmosphere that continues superbly into part three with a melancholic melody and punctuated drum work. Everything on this album has been thought out impeccably as the track suddenly explodes into life with intermittent blasts and grisly vocal barks. There is a tangible progressivity about this release exemplified by the closing track as it dives into tranquil sections without warning and with devastating results. As the tranquil section is rolled back a lead guitar piece enters and once again it is truly magnificent, generating a flair for the dramatic with a certain degree of superiority that is deserved. As that lead continues the emotion is palpable, as it distorts slightly with the rhythm guitar, bass and drums adhering the fabric of the song together and is probably one of the best songs I’ve heard during this decade and coupled to the two other parts and the rest of the album this really is a wonderfully crafted, ambitious, strident, emotive and captivating album that I have just now ordered on vinyl.
(9.5/10 Martin Harris)
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