Well we know all about Contagion right now and we have lots of laws to follow due to it. No doubt this is a namely coincidence from Ishkur the man behind this Portuguese blackened death project but it is certainly a timely one. An unknown to me, it would appear that the artist is proactive in several other ventures such as Nefret, Sonneillon BM and Wistful the latter of which he plays cello in among other things so obviously he is a multi-instrumentalist capable of pulling off things by himself. However, I have to admit I have found this album a bit of a struggle and have really had difficulty getting into it.
The main problem is that the 7 tracks and 39 minutes worth of music simply isn’t varied enough. Once establishing a formula Ishkur rigidly sticks to it making definition between songs hard to find. Well I guess it is meant to be woeful at any rate. ‘Heralding The Insane’ starts things off with bouncing drums, cymbal crunches and a rugged furrow. The vocals are deep and gruff and certainly stick to the tone throughout the recording. It’s not just black and death metal at the roots here but also some Gothic tendencies via both the guitars and vocals but obviously at the more extreme roots of the genre. There’s also a slight touch of doom and as the album progresses some neat ice-cold thorny riffs to be enjoyed. I am reminded a bit of Matron Thorn’s weird ventures such as Oblivion Gate and Benighted In Sodom here but thankfully this has more to it than the nocturnal slumbers of self-indulgence I encountered there. There’s something quite sluggish and lifeless on songs such as Ov Evil though and already I am feeling perhaps this is hampered by the solo format and it would be enriched by the addition of other minds and contributors.
One good thing is the thick and cavernous production which gives it a solid sound with everything working in definition and providing an edge to the brutality as the faster elements gallop away and dig in. There’s no denying though that when this track ends and the next Litany cleaves in there is virtually no change and it sounds like one long continuous track throughout the entire album. It’s clear I am not going to win with this one and having given it numerous plays it is unfortunately an album that is not going to grow on me. That’s a shame as obviously there is talent here but the album is simply too formulaic and ‘by numbers’ to really indulge in any further especially in a year where so much stunning black metal has been unveiled.
(6/10 Pete Woods)
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