“Down there one can’t see anything” is what is written in the centre of my copy of this album. This is the gloomy world of Petrale, a one-man black metal project from Croatia. Petrale is prolific, having released an album every year since 2017. The sound has dissonance, while the lyrical themes “are about the manifestations of the devil in a rural, Mediterranean, catholic area”.
Without doubt there’s a strong odour of early black metal from Norway here. The ferocity of the attack, the tempo, the violence coming from the guitar and the harshness of the vocals are all marks of opener “Impersonate the Blade”. There is a breakdown, and we are dragged through barbed wire before the swirling intensity and turbulence return, and then back to a majestic funereal conclusion. “Po Noći Se Boje Vidi Kad Svijetli Iz Grobova” has a similar black atmosphere, made more intense by the layers of instrumental contribution. Thunderous, deep and razor-sharp, this is almost experimental in style, as the scene switches setting. It’s mostly raw aggression with a bit of slower menace. So dense is the structure and heavy in content that I lost the context and flow of the song in all the instrumental finery. I should add here that the volume doesn’t compromise the quality but as I’m sure the artist intended, it’s not easy listening.
“A Brief Discussion About the Remoteness of a Loss” hits us like a battering ram. The atmosphere is bleak. The vocals are dirty. The song progresses begrudgingly. A little melodic passage throws us off our guard and takes us into an expansive passage before reverting via an explosion to a final volley of black metal gymnastics. The subtlety here lies in the intricacy and breadth of the instrumental work. The world that Petrale is depicting just gets bleaker as pile upon pile of dirt and depravity is sourced and cast over us. “From Elongated Hollows” captures that dirty mood. At one point it is doom-like, but as always the tempo and style of attack vary, and we also find ourself rushing headlong in the evil wind that’s being whipped up. I’m guessing that “The Choreography of Two Thousand Legs” refers to something but whatever it is, the song wends its way colourfully, in a black metal sense, through a machine-gun attack of direct hits and sinister moods. As when I was listening to “Po Noći Se Boje Vidi Kad Svijetli Iz Grobova”, I found myself forgetting that this album was divided into eight songs – multi-faceted slabs would be a better description. With distortion, fire and short but subtle interludes mid-song, it’s a series of passages each of which leads to the next one, all adding fuel to the fire. We never reach the heights of any sort as that would defeat the object but we do spend a lot of time in the depths. “Walls are Bloating” starts like the story of a death, but picks up in typical fashion and borders on melody, except that Petrale deviates at every opportunity as if twisting the knife in order to add to the already grisly scene. Musically speaking, Petrale moves upbeat and high-tempo with the final title track. A combination of fire and excitement is a good way to finish this accomplished album.
Although based broadly in style on 1990’s black metal, there’s nothing simple about this. Intense and focussed, this is not an easy album by virtue of its structure. The album is direct in style but not in structure. While never deviating from a base of malevolence, Petrale takes us on a comprehensive musical exploration of “The World Down There”.
(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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