Here we have the kings of monumental occult German doom apparently. Who crowned them or whether they seized the throne is something to consider but once we dip into their third album ‘Vama Marga’ a tantric term for the left hand path, such questions are quickly forgotten. This is a hefty and immersive album to lose oneself completely within. Thematically following orthodox black metal ideologies but not in musical terms, once the pleasant first atmospheric intro piece dissolves into the weighty ‘Emanation’ we are slowly thrust into the realms of funeral doom. Ponderous slow oozing riffs, weather-barked vocals like barnacles refusing to be extracted and some gorgeous shimmering guitar lines are all present. The sound has plenty of weight behind it and the group are a quintet who thicken things out admirably. Among them we have the keyboardist from Evoken, guitarist from Apophis and a drummer who used to be in Nightfall and currently beats time in Temple Of Dread and various others.
Credentials ensured, the 53-minute odyssey continues and can’t be accused of being one dimensional as it has orchestral elements, occasional spoken word parts rising over the top and as we ruggedly pummel into ‘Sinistrum’ sudden bouts of deathly speed courtesy of the aforementioned drummer. It’s those glistening guitar parts that mesmerise me however, for some reason as does a lot of the music in this genre they dip my head deep beneath the ocean and give everything a submerged and floating, cast-adrift feel. Perhaps the timing of this is not great due to a certain doomed voyage hitting the headlines but this kind of atmospherically leaves me way down in Davy Jones locker. Needless to say fans of early Ahab will no doubt be happy exploring this album. There are no less than five instrumental interludes here which are all shorter than the main songs but do not feel out of place and all bring some space to the more crushing gravitas. The last one at album end ‘Mölingssken’ is particularly interesting and was composed by Mortuus of Marduk and Funeral Mist.
But most attention will be held on the album’s anchors such as ‘Feind’ which are one second churning the waves and next whispering enticingly in your ear like a Siren as the guitars rise and play some gorgeously interweaving harmonies. This is one of those albums that leaves you gazing into darkness but really seeing the beauty within, the atmosphere it conveys is quite fantastic and the recent addition of that Evoken keyboardist can really be felt giving songs such as V.O.A.D. (and yes I have pondered what that stands for) a sublime and graceful flow.
I only got to this one at the last second before release date and whilst that could have been a real ordeal given the nature of the genre, playing it over several days has been a feast and welcome indulgence. As for penultimate track ‘Vindex’ imagine (musically) Esoteric mixed with Epica, yes it’s an odd mix of doom and symphonic elements and will catch you off guard. That said it works fantastically and after this album I don’t actually feel like disputing that opening statement.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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