ITIMA is the second album release from the one man occult black metal project Titaan. It is also a 46-minute monolith.
All the things that you might expect with black metal are here: turbulence, violence, relentlessness, evil. Of course it comes from a very dark place. Five minutes or so in there’s a symphonic touch and whisperings, then an explosion and fragments fly more loudly and widely than before. Crashing eruptions and frenetic percussion lead the way. It stops. Pomp and solemnity are momentarily the order of the day or rather the night. But have no fear, the angered screams and wall of noise soon come back. Bells chime ominously, but of course the violence returns like a chainsaw doing its stuff to all around. It’s sheer chaos. Round and round it goes. The vocalist spews his stuff out rapidly as if there’s fire in his mouth. The pattern repeats itself: a second of quiet followed by an explosive maelstrom. The winds blow. There’s an acoustic line, a chant and something that sounds like a table. The violent storm returns. It’s like a punishing electric storm, striking its victim over and over. Powerful stuff. Industrial too, the dark chant returns and there is a slow and weighty march through the storm. It cranks up again. The background chant and vocal growls match the ferocity of the instrumentals and strike fear. Up and down it goes, always remaining in the shadowy world of evil and terror. A deep symphony plays. With the ceremonial chant adding sinister tones to the violent, seemingly uncontrollable output, it’s like psychological warfare. Each time it comes back for more. Here and there we hear a Middle Eastern style no doubt in hour of the “abyss of Mesopotamian culture” which this represents. It certainly makes it interesting, just as the sheer violence and intensity are impressive. Now and again we find ourselves in a gaping chasm. We are alone. There are no humans other than those chanting or coming out of the catacombs to oppress us. In any case those quieter moments are just moments of foreboding as the instruments of fire return to overwhelm us with their power and force. I don’t know what I was expecting to happen at the end because maximum intensity had been reached and maintained throughout. After a burst of chaos and a moment of silence, the album ends with a monotone drone, signalling perhaps that the journey doesn’t end but the suffering continues.
The pattern is similar in that this album swings between relentless fury and more reflective moments of fear, but it is not repetitive. “ITIMA” is like a vivid journey.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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