This album was given the very brief description of Black Rock Country when I spied it in the list of ready and willing releases.
Gotta say that description intrigued me. I was envisaging something like the Canadian terror country of Raw and prepared my pleather chaps and Stetson.
It was not to be, but my disappointment did not last long. Tetrahedra is the 5th full length release by this one-man project since 2020. What is it about people who keep their music in the shadows being so prolific? Especially if they have no other band mates to argue the toss with. That has got to be it surely. No disagreements over influences or the direction of each release just wham bam record another jam.
So what does Tetrahedra sound like? Well for these ears it is a delightful slab of nostalgia.
Jeremi is a Scot in a band with a French name on a Polish record label (a couple of songs are sung in Polish) and, as La Mer offers up an enticing blend of Black/Nu/Gothic and Doom.
Yeah that is right I put Nu in there. There is more than a hint of Marilyn Manson in many of the tracks. One of the many vocal styles is straight out of Brian’s most notorious and catchy works and there are several times that the guitars take on the buzzsaw of John 5. I also get elements of H.I.M. throughout the album as well as Paradise Lost and Cradle of Filth and N.I.N. It’s like a smorgasbord of dark rock from the last 20 years alongside some danceable EBM more modern post black metal and post punk like Actors. Tetrahedra is like its own club night.
I got sent this on CD by the illustrious editor of Ave Noctum which means I get to gaze at the Henri Martin painting “Berenice” which graces the cover – named for the Edgar Allen Poe story and I also get to read the lyrics. Some of them are a little on the nose but they work. You know there are some good uns when you remember them several hours later.
“A Little house on the prairie. A little spot in the cemetery” – from the gothic bass laden Patina stands out a mile and had me grinning wryly at it’s simple brilliance.
In fact, that describes this album well. La Mer use simple shades of black and grey to paint an effective and intriguing eerie picture. Whether it is with blastbeats which pepper the album or swathes of keys that swoop in like Hammer Horror bats the spooky aura remains. Little touches like glockenspiel melodies offer slivers of light throughout and the vocals flit and bounce between the aforementioned MM to rasped Black Metal, crooning Vallo velvets to a more doomy tone. This fella is one talented git! (Jealousy is such a wasted emotion).
When an album offers up so much variation in styles – despite the overarching theme and sensibility blending well – there is always a danger of alienating listeners who seem to be more happy than ever to climb into genre created pigeon holes to nest.
This album is not going to attract the KVLT and Troo and as I have read in another writer’s review it may not be “whacky enough” for some lovers of Avant Garde BM.
However, if you like Dark rock and roll and can throw down to Kovenant, Manson, Satyricon, HIM and Nitzer Ebb as well as classic Doom and even New Model Army in places – I reckon you can dig it – like a fresh grave.
(8/10 Matt Mason)
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