Arrgh. Genuinely hate being in this position, but it is what it is. Mannveira are Icelandic, a country and a music scene I have huge love and respect for. Frankly I want to live there but, hey, never will as I have nothing to offer them skill wise. This is their debut full length after ten years of existence with demos, eps and splits prior to this.
Ok first issue. Is this black metal? Well with no idea of the lyrics I only have the music to go on and, with the exception of a few moments here and there with the vocals and the guitars I have to say this way more in the realm of post rock sludge. It has that slow, dragged low end riff style with bursts of speed, the shouted and howled vocals and then the mental image of a band surrounded by dry ice probably with their backs to the audience. And no this is not similar to something like Teitanblood; riffs and atmosphere totally different.
So, genre quibbles done with, is this any good? This is the hard part. I can do difficult music. I can do harsh, obscure, monomaniacal, quiet, weird, whatever. This though.. I used to go to Temples and this album sadly reminded me of a half dozen post rock sludge bands whose names escape me but lost me in ten minutes and never let me back in.
The riff piles high, we get occasional sprinkles of melody and vocals which sound deeply sincere. There is clearly nothing amiss with the musicianship either: Tight, adept, focussed. But. Songs? Nothing here grabs me at all. I have listened over and over again but for an album that the PR described as a descent, there was no movement. This began where it began and stayed there. It is around thirty five minutes of sludgy riffing music that just blocked me at every turn until eventually I gave up, disappointed in myself at being defeated. I felt trapped in cave, which I guess shows something affected me, but the sound became a continual echo that was impossible to hold onto rather than a journey. With music like this you need the dynamics of masters like Neurosis, which this sounds closer to me than black metal, and the tension of someone like Of Spire And Throne. For me it had neither I’m afraid.
Sorry guys. Clearly not for me. On the plus side looking around I appear to me in a minority. See what you think but it’s a hard pass here.
(4.5/10 Gizmo)
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