Ever since Deathspell Omega emerged from the infernal depths of the Earth to skewer our ears with unfathomable malevolence and completely defy every convention the black metal community holds dear, many other French black metal bands have started following in their footsteps, molding and bending the black metal sound to best reflect their dark vision of the world. The latest band to do so is Situs Magus, who have just released their debut full-length, Le Grand Oeuvre, which in English means The Grand Work. The Latin equivalent of this phrase is Magnum Opus. How fitting.
This album is split into five tracks: one short intro and four massive tracks of grandiose, almost operatic black metal. I'm not talking as in fat chicks singing or anything like that. I'm talking operatic as in how colossal and epic the music is. I know the word “epic” is horribly overused in this day and age, but I don't know how else to describe this. These guys utilize both mid-paced black metal rhythms and slow, crushing funeral doom metal rhythms put through a black metal filter. Some parts remind me of Elysian Blaze.
The drums play the black metal and funeral doom metal rhythms perfectly, unleashing methodical pounding one minute and unholy blast beats the next. The vocals utilize both frantic rasps and sinister growls. They're both well-performed and represent the different faces hiding in the cacophony. The guitars are the backbone of this grand presentation. They have this tone similar to France's other unorthodox black metal bands that resonates throughout the room. It gives the music a sort of forcefulness it would not have otherwise had. The guitars also have this dissonant quality that reflects the Egyptian theme of the cover art. These characteristics make the album sound like it would fit right at home in an opera about a tyrannical pharaoh who is constantly mocked by the voices of the past and seeks to build countless monuments to himself. He doesn't care how many people die in their construction, he is willing to do anything to make the voices go away.
Like the pyramids of ancient times, thousands of lives were sacrificed to produce this, but it was worth it. This album is sinister and bombastic. It grabs a hold of you from the first riffs all they way to the fiery climax, when the pharaoh's mind collapses and he is slain by his own people. France is home to a lot of unorthodox black metal bands, and Situs Magus is my favorite so far.
0 comments:
Post a Comment