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Tag Archives: black metal
Review: Mord’A’Stigmata’s “Ansia” (2013)
Black Metal lends itself to experimentation, in my opinion, due to its rather generic soundscapes. Ultimately, if some of the musicians are to believed, writing for black metal is a formula in which the riffs culminate around a cold theme, and are swept up to a swelling catharsis. Mord’A’Stigmata promotes that they integrate Space Rock and experimentation into the subgenre. Being a fan of progressive experimentation, Space Rock, and Black Metal, I jumped at their offer to spin the album.
Like always, I have to determine what I know about the album, down to its name before I give it a listen. Knowing nothing about a band is not a terrible thing when coming to music (how else do we enjoy new sounds and new perspectives!), therefore, I didn’t give much time to looking into who Mord’A’Stigmata was, who their members are, and what their previous music is (I’m reviewing this particular topic after all, not their back catalogue). Instead, I focused solely on their album’s title: Ansia. Ansia, apparently, is the Italian word for anxiety. We all have our own perception of what this is and how it affects us. Having titled their album thusly, I expected a tense, roiling mass of music that draws only sometimes into the hypnosis of space and time.
Ultimately, I was wrong. The album, while it has its moments of tension, never becomes oppressively tense. Instead, their approach focuses on mystery wherein the coldest soundscapes of black metal (and the sub genre’s defining approach of tremolo and blast beat) are scant, playing on a role in a number of the pieces. The music’s rhythm section is its driving force, particularly the percussion which is unexpected and at times ominous in the feel it creates. The focus on the hypnotic, nearly trance inducing, music is amplified by the passages that slow down and plod along gently. The focus on these moment is evident in the length of the pieces (3 of 5 are more than 10 minutes in length, the fourth is over 7 minutes, and the fifth is an outro). Unlike other reviews, I did not focus on the lyrics at all, rather wanting the focus to remain solely on the music rather than its poetry; therefore, the voice can make you raw with its shrieks and lends itself well during the chanting moments.
Ansia is a solid album from a great group of musicians. In terms of technicality, Mord’A’Stigmata has absolutely no faults, making the compositions strongly focused. In terms of the album’s theme, Ansia never quite provides the payoff that great Black Metal creates. In fact, I never truly felt anxious or even considered the topic of anxiety while listening to the album (maybe I’ve become too desensitized!). The album felt more mysterious where its black metal moments are used to accentuate this mystery rather than to establish further tension. Generally, this is a good album that feel more based in psychedelia/space rock than in black metal, which is stunningly well performed by musicians that are comfortable in their approach. If anything could be better, I wish that the album would have given me that typical Black Metal catharsis.
Shows: Scorned Deity in November.
Friends in the Fort Wayne, IN and Chicago, IL areas that are into metal shows and looking for a live performance should take note.
Music Review: Fyrnask’s “Eldir Nótt” (2013)
Germany’s Fyrnask is a black metal band whose music revolves around nature, sorrow, and ritualism (per Encylopaedia Metallum). Again, much like the other bands this week, I’d never listened to them until very recently. Their second release, Eldir Nótt, comes out on Temple of Tortuous records on 9/23/13 and can be found here. Black Metal is an interesting beast in that it comes from a very independent place and lends itself well to experimentation. There’s no one black metal real “pure” take on the sound, regardless of what the True Kvlt would say regarding that comment. Generally, it has been an interesting previous two years in the sub genre, with bands taking the time to experiment with tone and space. Fyrnask seems dead set on investigating the use of space in their particular brand.
They are never quite ambient though they use synths, keys, strings, rain sounds, and throat singing to help contribute to this sense of space (see “Virgil,” “Jardeldir” and “Suonnas sedir”). For what it’s worth, the long compositions are where the metal is on its most redolent display: guitars churn tension, blast beats echo through the points, vocals shriek indignation. Each song builds, weaving through and around itself, to its climax, providing the much needed catharsis that I find necessary.
Fyrnask are straight forward, really, and the only subtlety is found in the atmosphere evoked alongside the more pensive moments of their songs and in the instrumentals. Remarkably, it’s the use of the instrumental that seems most important to this album as they tend to bleed into the next long composition; e.g.: “Suonnas sedir” is echoed through out the heaviest song on the album “Saltrian.” Conversely the long pieces fade well into the dark, vacuous instrumentals that serve to offer respite from the acidity of the approach. I refuse to hide my appreciation of the music from “Suonnas sedir” through “Samas stígr.” This haunting 16 minutes relies off all the elements that makes this album good: chanting, throat singing, acoustics (guitar and what sounds to be lute), hand drums, and strings. Perhaps this is a bit over the top, but you can genuinely feel the use of space here.
“Síada” is their most ambitious composition on the album, combining all elements of their sound together into the real payoff of the album. It brings all those earlier atmospheric instrumentals together with the venom of their metal. Droning at points, abruptly twisting at others, this is by far the best individual composition on the album; yet its point would be completely missed without the preceding runtime. The album fades out on “Sút” in an expansive sound that perfectly ends the ritual.
Fyrnask’s approach to Black Metal is a welcome addition to an all ready interesting year in the sub genre. It’s not overly progressive; however, however it is overwhelmingly dramatic and worth the payoff. You are not going to miss much if you’re listening for its chamber music qualities, but you are not going to be disappointed if you pick it apart. It is very much the purest Black Metal album I’ve reviewed all year, and for all intents it’s one of the best thus far.
The Esoteric Alembic 