13/12/2024
10/10 Review for An Axis Of Perdition - Apertures from Musipedia Of Metal
This is something else. There are a lot of bands who proclaim that their sound is unique and that the latest release further separates them from the herd. Apertures is a release that makes good on every single promise.
It is unsettling with some nightmarish sounds that stay with you after the final track has completed. This doesn’t go down ‘the every song at hyper speed route’ of black metal you might be used to, it’s also not a blast fest (although they are there), it’s just different.
The music here is the result of a band writing what they believe to be their truth. It just so happens that their truth could be used as the backdrop to a horror film and with that in mind, Corrupted Pulse represents the start of this journey, an electronic collision of noise that just wants to unsettle you.
Until Metempsychosis comes in on its heels and starts off in what you could describe in a traditional manner, but not with a barrage but with a mesmeric arrangement that has so much going on you will have to listen multiple times to really get to grips with this. It continually builds, adding more layers here, removing where redundant but keeps pushing forward.
Now, if you have ready my reviews this year you may have noticed that I’m not keen on instrumental breaks or interludes. On here Corrupted Pulse didn’t act in the same way that others could do and so it meant something and wasn’t there just to fill time.
However, they follow Metempsychosis with The Undercity Awaits, which is another soundscape that is designed in the same manner as Corrupted Pulse. Moving on, Chant Of The Worshipful Prey comes in with a build that is just odd. Its heavily laden with background sounds, discordant guitar lines that repeat and just an overall feeling that if you dig this, then great.
If you don’t, bye. It just meanders its way from start to finish, infuriatingly without seemingly going anywhere but at the same time getting its hooks into you so that you stay with it till the end. Sewer Of Lethe is somewhere you probably don’t want to go, and a The Undercity Awaits acts as a bridge to The Truth Is There to Tear Apart. Taking audible cues, it is another slow and measured effort that brings in those guitar lines that cannot stay in one place for any great length of time.
This is as far away from what I considered black metal to be as possible. It should be applauded for being so unique but at the same time I just wanted it to go all out. The constant song then interludes then song pattern also doesn’t help but as you make your way through you discover that these are an essential part of the album.
Unimaginable Depths then followed by Private Acts Of Abnegation which has to be said is a stunning track. By now they have got the atmospherics running but doesn’t overshadow a fantastic riff. The whole thing is wonderous really, squalling background effects and that unhurried approach that amplifies the effect the song has on you.
And then they hit you with Flesh Underfoot and I Am Odium; Flesh Underfoot is eerie, and I Am Odium is last act, and what a song it is. It is massive, covered in an oppressive cloak partly due to their use of background sounds. You have to check out the drumming on this, it is first class. The avoidance of using heavy guitar is remarkable and yet it is still heavy, you just have to dig deep and let it flow over you. Incredible stuff.
Reading this back, I think you can say that I loved half of it and didn’t care for the other half. I’m being unfair to be honest. The album is built so that the respective interludes have a job to do in linking each song and are so well thought out that I can forgive them for being there. Without them, the album would not work as well as it does as you would have a collection of great songs but with no context or flow between them. Its brave, exciting, maddening and completely unique. 10/10
