If you have studied demonology 101 you are no doubt aware that Raüm is the name (with or without umlaut) given to a particularly nasty earl of hell who can shapeshift between crow and human form. Known for ruling 30 legions of demons, stealing treasure from kings and destroying cities and dignities of men you probably would be best heeded to avoid. Perfect name really to be adopted by this new quartet from Belgium and latest signees to French label LADLO Productions.
They class themselves as post-black and for sure there are moments of this within the construct of the four lengthy musical psalms proffered on this, their debut album. However, the mainframe of things is black as one could wish for, a vicious and scathing, fast blast of icy, fetid tremolo plucking fury, hammering drums and scabrous, rancid, rasping, devilish vocals at first. Opener ‘Andromeda’ goes at it hammer and tongs and delivers a sense of despair and ruination via it’s somewhat bleak underlying melody. There is no triumph here, just a feeling of ruination, considering things are themed around “vacuity and the auto-destructive nature of the human soul,” it’s just what one would expect. Doomy parts are embedded here and the post-black drop into feelings of despair and depressed states are confronted as like a fractured mind a mournful guitar tone emerges from amidst the blazing tumult and slowly distinguishes like life until the drawn out climax of the track. After a few shard-like pickings the viciousness of the title number hones in with decimating carnage at its heart. Vocalist Jacqmin Olivier spits and snarls away and really tinges the music with a caustic and hateful poison. Things drop out to a lone guitar and breathing space adds atmosphere and feelings of solitude and isolation; a poetic spoken word part echoes slightly and gloom has really tinged proceedings. It’s all very effective.
There’s plenty of time to immerse yourself within the folds of these numbers even if pessimism coats them. ‘Fallen Empire’ has a reflective nature, there’s certainly no victory dance going on here or anything celebratory that’s for sure. Weighing in at a weighty 12 minutes the final number ‘Beyond The Black Shades Of The Sun’ speaks to me by title of human fragility and taking no comfort from anything rather than something of a more fantastical nature. There’s a bi-polar up and down feel in it from a jaunty bouncy start to parts of noisy distorted feedback as though the head and brain having gone from a sudden clarity for a while disintegrates into its own sense of futility into distortion and a period of being unable to cope with absolutely anything. Depressives will no doubt understand and even if I am completely wrong as to what the music is meant to convey this is how it has spoken to me.
So although a somewhat nihilistic listening experience Raüm have delivered a strong opening statement here and one that I will be interested to hear developing in the future.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply