ÆVANGELIST : "Perdition Ekstasis Meta"

 

This is the 4th album we have reviewed for this project. It seems like they are making music that is just as dismal and seething with darkness as previous releases. When things kick in it's apparent from the drum programming that there is a more industrial feel to this album. There is a mesmerizing throb, that shares some sonic ground with artists like Blut Aus Nord.  The nightmarish collage of sounds is impressive for the dense hypnosis of layers they weave around your ears. The vocalist from Anorexia Nervosa continues the growls to this album, which falls into more of an experimental death metal realm, despite its lack of double bass. However aggression is not this project's mission statement, it feels like they are more committed to delving into creepy unsettling hymns of Lovecraft-like madness 

Sometimes their deranged musical portraits are more song-oriented than others, It does not always play to their favor if being weighed against songs vs sounds, as "Endura" is more abstract and sounds like it should be background music for a haunted house. I would caution against smoking weed while listening to this as you might scare yourself.  Thins come together as marginally more of a cohesive song for "Wicked Flesh to Spirit Sublimate". Things still shift abstractly with lots of sound swirling around you but no solid metallic spin until the drums kick in. at the end. There is more of a beat to "Metaphor of Ominous Silence" so it moves with more purpose. This pulse makes it more of a song, but the bubbling atmosphere largely drowns it out without a closer listen. 

There is more of a black metal feel to "Reflected in the Angel's Blade". It converges into an actual riff that fights its way through the hellish ambiance that tries to consume, aligning more with death metal/ Things ebb down for the spacious mood of "Plague Blood Redemption". There is no point trying to discern what these songs are about as the vocals are just another static layer of sound. A guitar melody does swim through this muck which has more in common with Coil than Deicide. It becomes more of a drone. Aaron from My Dying Bride appears in "The Sword and the Crystal". It is doomier and also the clearest example of songwriting, showing they can do it when they try. 

There is almost an industrial march to "Ekstatis Divnae". The guitar carries it forward in a more forceful metal manner.  Like much of this album, it also drones more than pounds. At over fourteen minutes there is plenty of time to get more moods in. These come but in subtle shifts. At the six-minute mark, it's hard to understand what more they intend to accomplish given the single trajectory most of the album has. The track after this is more of an outro so not counting it for the purpose of this review. I will give this album an 8, as the idea of it and the sound is woven to make this are cool, but not much in terms of actual songwriting so it comes down to the why of why this might be something you would listen to regularly.  Drops Sept 20th on I , Voidhanger Records. 

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