I am generally intrigued by anything I can’t pronounce and this Dutch group named after a Mesopotamian God along with twin Lugalirra are apparently associated with Nergal. Nope not that one and forget any similarities to Behemoth here. What I unearthed are a duo comprised of Floris and Ward joined now by a flugelhorn player Izzy, an odd instrument in extreme music and the second example of which encountered in the last couple of weeks. Looking up their past output I noticed they have been around since 1998 and have three albums prior to this, the last couple as with Weemoedsklanken (Melancholy sounds) completely in their native tongue. I was instantly drawn to the apocalyptic cover art on these, with gas-masked figures stumbling over the ruins of an irradiated land and learnt that the group’s musical ethos is to “observe and mourn the way humanity treats our beloved mother earth”.

You can hardly accuse their musical way of expressing this to be simple in the slightest and although the sound is based on black metal it takes many twists and turns as it delivers its sombre message. Starting with a somewhat mournfully calm instrumental passage, the ‘melancholy’ of the title, we are set up with atmosphere before tumbling into ‘Rad des Tijds’ and The Wheel Of Time where the full sonic armoury is unleashed. This is the sound of torment, spiky guitar-work slashes with some fantastic underlying melody and stabbing action whilst piercing snarly vocals bark over the top. Violent and manic with a huge feel of drive about it along with some hollered narration I wish I understood the language as it feels like a great post-apocalyptic story is at the narrative heart of this. It’s gripping and page-turning stuff too as the tale unfolds. Melodies are fantastic, there is everything amidst them from post punk to shoegaze along with the spiteful main delivery. There’s also an avant-garde feel and it is far from orthodox taking in the weird bass plummeting sound that developed through bands such as Fleurety and Ved Buens Ende infecting the mania of songs such as ‘Schone Lei.’

Brass sounds are subtle at first becoming more fully developed on ‘Moegestreden’ (Tired), the horn along with saxophone courtesy of Otto Kokke (Dead Neanderthals) adding some lilting jazz flair to the blackness. Vocals are also allowed to go out on a limb and move from snarls to clean croons and you should listen out to some spoken word parts from Fraukje van Burg of Doodswens on last number ‘Uiteengevallen’. I have fallen for this album hook, line and sinker and lovers of the odd aforementioned along with the likes of Bergraven should really give this a listen. It’s dark and mysterious stuff and the intertwining melodies are damn near impossible to shift once they have got claws into you making this an album that will draw you back to it time and again. Guaranteed to keep you on your toes, there’s even a passage of trip-hop but somehow the lunacy all seems to gel and make some sort of sense making this a fascinating album to explore. An unhinged but perfectly composed assault that comes highly recommended.

(8.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/people/Meslamtaea/100063532660230

https://babylondoomcultrecords.bandcamp.com/album/weemoedsklanken