Obituary - Anthology (2001)

Of the two Obituary collections released by Roadrunner Records, the first of them, 2001's Anthology, is slightly the more favorable. This is due only to the presence of a few unreleased knick knacks amongst the retread waste, a demo track that many might not have heard, and a few minor edits or tweaks elsewhere. When I mention 'favorable', of course, it is only by comparison to 2008's The Best of Obituary, which the band had no say in, but the difference is about as much as being gunned in the balls and left bleeding to death, or a clean and merciful headshot. Most would take the latter. In no way should any human being squander their money on Anthology when there are countless more valuable things to do with it, but if you find yourself held at gunpoint to select one, then this will sting less.

With over 77 minutes of material, Obituary and Roadrunner have conspired to give the listener their money's worth of...what they already have. The 'compilation' element is delivered through a largely chronological fashion, beginning with a demo cut of "Find the Arise" which is a slightly cruddier alternative to the final studio version (Cause of Death). Then its straight to the races, with a chunk of material from their classic albums; Slowly We Rot ("'Til Death", "Intoxicated", "InternalB leeding", and the title track) and Cause of Death ("Chopped in Half", "Turned Inside Out", "Dying" and again, the title track). The wisest among us would stop right there, as these are the only two Obituary albums that really matter to this day, and the surprising neglect of two of the sophomore's best songs ("Body Bag", "Memories Remain") seems rather suspect in the chooser's choosing. But they press on, with three tracks from The End Complete ("I'm in Pain", "Back to One", and AGAIN the title track); three from World Demise ("Final Thoughts", Kill For Me", and of course "Don't Care") and three from Back from the Dead ("Threatening Skies", "By the Light" and another title track).

If Anthology had been offered as a free download or super discounted disc with proceeds going to some charity, the selection itself might not be frowned upon. After all, certain omissions aside, they carve out an adequate representation of what each studio full-length represented, and one can clearly hear the band's 'evolution' towards groovier LCD fare down the stretch. Alas, that is not the case, and this was another major label cash grab (major for metal), Roadrunner ironically churning out junk like this while failing to care much about signing new death metal bands and further supporting one of the genres that got them to the top in the first place. But the band has also included a few bones for the fans that have blown their cash on it, in the form of a cover of Venom's "Buried Alive" (not so bad once the goofy intro is out of the way and we hear John Tardy's grisly howling above the rocking), and a "212 degree Sporadic Mix" of the song "Boiling Point", which is cast in an interesting industrial drumming claptrap, though that's the only thing distinct about it.

So, in the end, even these bonus tidbits are not compelling enough to save the Anthology. Their legendary cover of "Circle of the Tyrants" will probably always remain their go-to tribute to the past, and next to this "Buried Alive" blows. The industrial remix could have been interesting, sort of like the Laibach 7" remixes done for Morbid Angel, but it's as if they just tacked on a campy, alternative beat and left it there. But, fuck, at least there is SOMETHING present which the death metal fans did not already own. A few of the other tunes are supposedly alternate recordings or edits, but fuck if I could notice or care about the differences. Even the most rudimentary newb or poseur would be better served shelling out the cash for Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death, or the 2003 'Two From the Vault' double-pack, than this currency-craving detritus.

Verdict: Epic Fail [.75/10]

http://www.obituary.cc/

Pagan's Mind - Heavenly Ecstasy (2011)

Norway's premier progressive metal act peaked in 2005 with the stunning Enigmatic: Calling, a spotless album that would serve to help modernize and define its genre in a new era of possibilities. Sure, it was as sugary and shining as the glossiest of candies. But what an amazing confection, well balanced between lightning riffing, gorgeous melodies and the precision pitch of Nils K. Rue, one of the best in the business, a clear choice to occupy the throne left barren by the likes of Geoff Tate, James Labrie and Ray Alder. I have not stopped spinning that album to date, so when it's followup God's Equation turned out t be a bit of a disappointment, it was not unexpected. How does one trump perfection? You put up an equivalent statement of quality or you shut up.

Well, six years later, Pagan's Mind have returned for their 5th album, and though it's perhaps not on the same wavelength, it's thoroughly enjoyable, and one of the best of its type I've heard in some time. The Norsemen retain their affinity for cosmic, wide reaching subjects of beauty in and out of the human sphere, abstractions upon religion and so forth, but this once again creates the perfect sort of gleaming, memorable fare that prog/heavy metal nerds sporting erections throughout the 80s and 90s would have killed for. Not a song goes by without some ear catching phrase or riff, and even at its worst (the rather vapid hard rock grooving incorporated "Into the Aftermath"), the band can craft a chorus that will send shivers through your nerves and a smile upon your face. There might not be any particular tracks that could compete with the elation of "Enigmatic Mission" or "Celestial Calling", but most of them come pretty damn close, and that is saying something...

Heavenly Ecstasy opens with a real burner, "Eyes of Fire", with a few thick exotic grooves to whet your anticipation for Rue's pristine presence, before the chorus and its tangible emotional levity. Cut to the great shredding and busywork of Jørn Viggo Lofstad in the bridge, and you're once more taken on an adventure. A few of the simpler, groove riffs are admittedly pedestrian, but encased in such enormous, clean production it's difficult not to feel some power. But this is far from the best track here: "Intermission" is a glorious, uplifting charge with a lot of screaming and a casual balance of aggressive chugging and moody synthesizer in the verses, while "Revelation to the End" sees the band experiment with Halford-like power metal screams and a chugging vortex of momentum with another voracious chorus. "Follow Your Way" and "The Master's Voice" are the sort of dreamy fare I would love to hear Dream Theater crafting these days, but then, Pagan's Mind are a far more straightforward act who jam and fuck around less. "Never Walk Alone" is yet another shocker that belongs on a highlight reel of their discography.

Really, the only song I completely discarded was the ballad "When Angels Unite", but really, all of these bands force something like this upon you. For what it's worth, it's not poorly written, just all too generic feeling and drippy. I also mentioned the grooves in "Into the Aftermath", but that still has a chorus you'll want to check out. In all, Heavenly Ecstasy is precisely what I want to hear out of this band: practiced, professional, polished execution and masterful musicianship that caters to both the virtues of restraint and the yearning of the ear, especially when the band fuses the dreamy 80s synthesizer prog with the charging guitars and Rue's siren-like prose. If you've appreciate anything Pagan's Mind has released in the past, or you'd be interested in hearing Stratovarius or Sonata Arctica done better, with far less wank, then these Norwegians once again have your back.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

http://www.pagansmind.com/front/

Bleeding Fist - Devil's Ferox EP (2011)

It might just be that I've been spoiled through the years, but I must admit I've grown tired of hearing the same thing over and over, to the point that it becomes a predictable washout. Such is the case for Slovenians Bleeding Fist, who have shown in the past a capability to create some raw, punishing black metal with dire atmosphere and cryptic if cliche Satanic occult lyrics. They continue to do so with their latest EP, Devil's Ferox, yet another in a ceaseless tirade of releases that draws upon but does not significantly alter or elaborate upon the formula manifest through Venom, Bathory, Mayhem, and other primal, old school thrash, death and black metal that countless acts have channeled into the present.

Now, from this opening paragraph, you might assume that I hated this disc, but that's not the case. Bleeding Fist are not bad. The band is clearly competent at conjuring their wall of vapid force, straight laced storms of sin ala "Monuments of Desecration" or the 7-minute title track, which breaks into some half-cooked rocking thrust. Hellscream's rasping has a way of echoing out across the din of the black metal clamor with appropriate agony, but the riffs below are in general little more than uninteresting noise played at high speeds without memorable patterns of notes. Glistening, 'evil' extractions of chords and shadowy atmosphere pervade the 26 minutes, but despite its authenticity, there is no glaring malevolence or subtlety within. The band's "Black and Violent" tribute to legendary Italians Death SS is perhaps the most distinctly morbid piece on the album, but even this is unable to hang on to its qualities for very long.

If you're a stickler for the traditional, raw black metal appeal then I can't see any reason to tout Bleeding Fist as anything more than another random draw from the Satanic sweepstakes. I don't hear a ton of this style coming out of Slovenia, so there's a hellish scrap of novelty, but I had hoped this EP might be an improvement over last year's Macabrum Bestia Ex Abyssus, which I also didn't take to. Not the case, and I fear Devil's Ferox will be yet another of the blasphemous and faceless objects among the heaping hordes of doomed obscurity. Never actively offensive, never bad at what they do, just not that compelling in the end.

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10]

http://www.bleeding-fist.com/

Sacrilegious Impalement - II Exalted Spectres (2011)

Back for seconds after their solid if unremarkable Cultus Nex, Finns Sacrilegious Impalement represent the widespread devotion to the traditional black metal aesthetic just as well as any hopefuls out there in the deep underground. Drawn from equal parts influence of all of the major Scandinavian scenes (you'll hear some Swedish and Norse appeal in addition to the Finnish strains of a Barathrum or Horna), they're also well enough versed in variation that they don't bore the listener to tears. Proficient musicianship, a strong presence in front man Hellwind Inferion's dominant, hoarse delivery, lyrics of sadness, sacrilege and isolation, and a brazen production which takes the listener head on through its trials and torments.

So why doesn't II - Exalted Spectres bowl me over? This is simply just another of those cases of having been done before, in particular the band's faster fare ("Blessed to Resist", "Wolves of the Black Moon"), which I am hard pressed to distinguish from hundreds of other bands along the same general lines. Now, that's both a strength AND a weakness. The Finns do not claim to be reinventing the wheel, simply driving it into the cracked, burning pavement of the Abyss until it is destroyed. You know what you're getting intro (a song unto itself) simmers into existence at a mid paced gait, but once "Blessed to Resist" hammers forth, the album seems to immediately elevate in derivation, rapid and rushed, without any inherent intrigue. To be fair to the band, they do mix things up deeper into the track list. "Aletheia" is a tranquil menace delivered through sequences of pensive, clean guitars, and "Grand Funeral Convoy" also takes its time with the listener rather than blasting forth towards monotony.

Even these diversions, however, do not necessarily grab the attention front and center. Exalted Spectres is passable background noise, competent enough that I'd never write Sacrilegious Impalement off entirely, but the band's production, tone and aggression easily trump their ability at songwriting. Most of the individual riffs are drawn from the well of familiarity, and thus the layered, punishing mood of the album only gets them so far. In the end, I feel like I took away even less than I did from Cultus Nex. That wasn't a great disc itself, but the writing was slightly stronger. If you enjoy your black metal with raw but efficient studio values and a firm grasp on dynamic contrasts, in the vein of say, De Mysteriis dom Sathanas, then give this a try, but this sophomore is not about to turn many heads or horns in the band's direction.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/sacrilegiousimpalement

Desolate Shrine - Tenebrous Towers (2011)

Another entrant into the atmospheric death metal derby, Finland's Desolate Shrine seek to match wits and a crushing miasma with one of them most monolithic, harrowing tones I've heard yet. This is sheer 90s gristle cast in a vaulted construct of pain. Think of the slow, desolate slog of Bolt Thrower colliding with the simmering Swedish groove and tone of Entombed or Dismember, and then add two vocalists, one with the expected guttural tone and another with a slightly higher pitch. A bruised and bloody duo howling from the cavernous, decrepit depths of the intense guitar mix, the brute and warlike drumming. I had initially misled myself to believe this would be more of a death/doom outing, due to the title, band name and cover art, but it's far more likely to appeal to fans of stuff like Vasaeleth, Denial, and Innumerable Forms.

That said, Tenebrous Towers does not quite sound like any of the above. It's almost uplifting, the curvature of the crashing guitar rhythms elevated towards the rafters of its subterranean habitat. Tracks like "Mouths of Baal" and "Born to Lose One's Way" are both expressive and vibrant enough to throw one off balance, though the band also has no problem hammering out faster, aggressive material like "Chaos and Wrath" or the burgeoning "Burning Devotion". They even take it down a notch for the most substantial piece on the album, "The Brightest Night", a spacious (8+ minutes) elegy which inevitably erupts into violent tumult. But the most catchy tune on the album is the opener, "The Smell of Blood and Iron", with a very Entombed like underpinning rhythm morphed into layers of rust and lichen peeling, savage melodies.

On the downside, not all of what Desolate Shrine are penning necessarily sticks to the ear, thus it becomes more of a work of resonance than intricacy, a loud titan beneath the earth, afraid to subside as it shifts the landscape about it, but an earthquake that one is likely to forget before too long. Still, if you're interested in wallowing in such an atmosphere, Tenebrous Towers is a good place to start, a port of call where old school Swedish and Finnish influences gather and interbreed, then drill their way into the spaces below.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.facebook.com/desolateshrine

HammerFall - Infected (2011)

I'm sure I wasn't alone in being taken aback by the advance art and cover image for the latest HammerFall album, which perhaps was more fitting to the next Left 4 Dead sequel, or perhaps 28 Decades Later. A power metal band taking zombies head on? Would it be a concept album with a sequential narrative? A gaggle of songs about horror topics? As it turns out, Infected, the Swedish mainstay's 8th full-length is not necessarily such, but instead a pretty standard and inconsequential effort not unlike the last handful. There was some dread, some apprehension that the band might be trying to go all groove and heavy here, but that's not at all the case. This is business as usual, a selection of rather mediocre tracks with a few highlights that aren't enough to heave it over the threshold of quality.

No, this is not the Glory to the Brave II that many HammerFall fans of old have undoubtedly anticipated, and in fact it's not even the measure of their last, average record No Sacrifice, No Victory. What stuns me is the lack of effective or memorable chorus sequences throughout, just a lot of humdrum and melodramatic fist pumpers that go absolutely nowhere, a few borderline offensive as they're so damned cheesy. Do we really need a crappy acronym anthem for "Bang Your Head", "B.Y.H."? For that matter, do we really need another song called "Bang Your Head"? Only one of them matters folks, and it's not fucking this one, a dreary and uninspired anthem that must have taken Dronjak and company less than 10 minutes to fully compose. Then there's the actual zombie epic, "Patient Zero" which I had hoped might justify its tacky film-like intro, but winds up just an assortment of pretty average riffs and no real vocal payoff.

Other sodden compositions here include the militant flag waver "One More Time", the drippy ballad "Send Me a Sign" (hoorah for creative song titles), and the totally dorky "I Refuse" which sounds like Captain Planet and his Planeteers trying to write an AC/DC tune. "Let's Get It On" and "Redemption" are your standard HammerFall filler, and probably the only two songs I got a positive reaction on were "The Outlaw" and the faster speed/power piece "Dia De Los Muertos". It's true that the band do cover more occult and horror topics in the lyrics than usual, but there is no real unified undead concept, and the music itself is so typically uplifting that it creates a bizarre contrast with the theme and artwork. And not in a good way, like, say, Powerwolf.

Don't get me wrong, there's enough professionalism and production quality here to ensure that Infected doesn't fall wholly into the suck-pile, but for the songwriting it's got to be the single worst HammerFall album to date, and I was really hoping it might turn out to be the cusp of a cool new direction for the band. It's your typical, shoddy, big budget power/heavy metal album out of Europe, with clean performances, next to no wanking, and unfortunately, next to no songs worth hearing. These Swedes just don't do 'dark' very well...

Verdict: Indifference [5.25/10] (from zero the counting has begun)

http://www.hammerfall.net/

U.D.O. - Rev-Raptor (2011)

Let's have a show of hands for anyone who gives a damn about the new 'mascot' Udo has chosen for his solo career? Nobody? Count me entirely unsurprised. Udo Dirkschneider does not need a mascot, least of all some retarded icon redolent of an Insane Clown Posse paint job gone King Diamond on a bad hair day. Dirkschneider is a god among men, having fronted more great albums than Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson or Bruce Springsteen. Udo deserves tributes of wine, women and gold that he even lets us breathe the same air as he. So why, so late in his career was this unnecessary decision made? Needless to say, after viewing the covers for both this and the Leatherhead EP preview, I was worried...

Not that Dominator was an eye catcher, mind you, but the music at least lived up the legacy, for the most part. Rev-Raptor is perhaps the first case in many years in which the legend has begun to falter. There is nothing remotely terrible about this album, and it even manages a few decent anthems that the usual suspects will latch on to if they fancy Metal Heart, Animal House and all the guy's many classics, praised and unsung, but very few of the songs leave a lasting impression. "Fairytales of Victory" is your mid-paced Udo standard, pumping simplistic bass line glazed in cutting chords and a massive chorus. The slamming power of "Dr. Death", "Renegade" and "Terrorvision" are both quite effective, if nothing new for this band; and "Underworld" also has a huge set of balls that take you back to when every arena shaking Dirkschneider performance was the last thing you needed to witness before you could safely pass on from this world.

The rest of the album, is well...drab and uninteresting. In particular, the songs that were issued with the EP ("Leatherhead" and "Rock'N'Roll Soldiers") do nothing for me, solid but lacking in the fire and fun that made an album like Mastercutor so masterful despite itself. By this point it almost feels as if the guitar riffs are being recycled and paraphrased from Udo's own extensive backlog, so few times do they evoke anything compelling, and while these guys all play tight on both stage and in the studio, you get the feeling like they should attempt to stretch themselves more towards the limit. I mean, listen to the latest Accept album. Certainly they are trying to write with more intensity and intricacy, while Rev-Raptor sort of stagnates.

Dirkschneider can still deliver his lines with all the air raid torment of his youth, and as noted, there are several blockbusters here which stand aloft from their peers to get the head banging and the blood stirring in the listener's circulation, but overall, this is perhaps the lowest point for U.D.O. since Thunderball back in 2004. There's a song here called "I Give as Good as I Get", with THE MAN at the helm. How does that not just explode? Sad to say it doesn't (and that's one of the damned video/singles!) Not enough hooks, it just attempts to sail along on its own precedents, and in my opinion, that's just never enough for guys like Stefan Kaufmann and Udo Dirkschneider who have been my heroes for a damned eternity. Rev-Raptor isn't as bad as it might have been with that gaudy derelict of the mascot parade featured front and center, but neither is it worth remembering.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

ttp://www.udo-online.de/

Nocturnus - Ethereal Tomb (2000)

As someone who had long given up on Nocturnus ever getting their shit together and giving us the followup to The Key that I've always desired, Ethereal Tomb was both a shock and a letdown. The shitty cover art and replacement 'logo' are among the most amateur crap I've ever seen, thus the aesthetic pleasure of their debut was not in the cards; and the music seems to lack the brutality of the formative Nocturnus. Yet, for all its flaws, this unexpected opus does one thing right: it sounds authentic, as if the band had never written the sophomore effort Thresholds and leaped straight into this. Not that the album is superior to that one, it comes up slightly short, but for at least a few songs, this was what I had long hoped to hear...

Louis Panzer remains within the band, as well as guitarists Mike Davis and Sean McNenney, so you can expect a lot of the same punchy, dark guitar tones and cheesy but moody atmospheric synthesizer pads strung out in the background. A lot of slower, grooving death/thrash rhythms comprise the better tracks like "Orbital Decay" and "Apostle of Evil", and the band is right to create breaks in the tension as with the intro to "Edge of Darkness". Much of the album does grow monotonous as it operates at a similar, sluggish tempo, but where the band experiments with their chugging backbone, in the warlike gait of "The Killing" or the proggy "Search for the Trident", the tracks seem tasteful if tame compared to the debut. The instrumental "Outland" is another strong point, though not without predecent ("Nocturne in Bm" from Thresholds), arches of vacuous guitar melodies curving against the synthetic landscape.

Conceptually, the band still wraps their imaginations about sci-fi, horror and archaeological subjects, and I'm rather glad they haven't abandoned this terrain, since its perhaps their most distinctive characteristic around the turn of the century. The lyrics are pretty good. The use of the keyboards was not quite so novel by this time as it was in death metal with The Key, yet it's also a positive that the band persist in using them atmospherically rather than noodling like Janne of Children of Bodom. The production here is functional, though not much better than Thresholds. All told, Ethereal Tomb is a substantial enough experience if you enjoyed the first two albums, but let it be said that more care could clearly have been placed in its packaging and details. The biggest drawback is that band so capable of progressing and expanding beyond their prior borders has done no such thing here: it's more of the same, a little less crushing, playing it timid. Playing it safe.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (leaving scored bones)

http://www.myspace.com/nocturnusofficial

Morbid Angel - Gateways to Annihilation (2000)

Of all the Morbid Angel full-lengths, from the rightfully acclaimed (Altars of Madness) to the mediocre (Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, Blessed are the Sick) to the sadly underscored (Domination), I feel as if Gates to Annihilation is the most sure of itself. The experiments had been written and performed, the crowd's reaction noted. Deep in their sweltering Floridian bunkers, Trey Azagthoth, Pete Sandoval, Erik Rutan and no-longer new guy Steve Tucker knew that what they wanted to produce, a solid balance of their previous five full-lengths and an atmospheric slug-fest that was perhaps their best at interpreting the cosmic horrors and human isolation that their lyrics produce. Call it a 'broader view' of what such tantamount summonings and rendings in the fabric of space/time would produce.

The very crawling, battering rhythms created through the record forge mental images of long dessicated alien environments. Haunting brutality, twisted spires of rock and other elements that would no longer be scryed upon by the living or the sane. The cover image by Dan Seagrave is one of his personal finest, and in my opinion the best Morbid Angel have featured on any of the full-lengths, trumping even the iconic Altars of Madness. It really makes one sit back, think, and then if he/she thinks too hard, slowly start to lose grasp of reality. In a nihilistic universe of twisted occult aesthetics, Elder Gods stalking their next food source, and untold horrors that the 3-dimensional mortal simply cannot bear, it's really the whole package. Add to that the fact the production is so amazingly well-balanced, dual leads zoning over the intense punishment of the bottom end, and you've got an album forged to KILL EVERYONE.

Stylistically, this hearkens back to Blessed Are the Sick with a touch of Domination, in that it largely operates on a slower, fundamental tempo. Lurching, but so very determined and vast in scale, tunes like "Summoning Redemption" and "He Who Sleeps" retain a curious versatility despite their reluctance to spend considerable time in the acceleration zone. Tucker's voice has truly shaped itself here to become the ponderous bludgeon that can stand in for David Vincent, and the weighted fiber of the guitar tone possesses both a hard edge and a cystic resilience with great depth to it. The leads are exotic, alien sirens which splash upon the lifeless, terrestrial surfaces as if they were birds of prey striking through the vast vacuum of nothingness. In a sense, there is this cohesion throughout the album, from "Summoning Redemption" through the closer "God of the Forsaken", which makes it more difficult to distinguish individual pieces than it would be on Altars or Domination, yet this does not deter its quality.

Any gripes I have with the album are minor at best. For one, I dislike the scratchier, snarled vocals on "Secured Limitations". I feel that they distract me from the overall consistency and it would have been a better experience without them. For another, several of the repetitions of the riffs do come off a fraction too droning and monotonous. Granted, that's half the point of these things, but a few added dynamics would not have hurt the album's case. Otherwise, this is one of the best of Morbid Angel's albums, a dark, belligerent, savvy enterprise which proved beyond the shadow of the doubt that the new lineup was functional and formidable. I'd choose this over Blessed Are the Sick, Covenant, Formulas Fatal to the Flesh or Heretic any day. A poignant harbinger of Armageddons yet unseen.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (return these days to the righteous)

http://www.morbidangel.com/

The Crevices Below - Below the Crevices (2011)

Being that I was highly smitten with Midnight Odyssey's 2009 demo full-length Firmament, I have naturally been anticipating the newest project from its creator, Australian Dis Pater. The Crevices Below provides a conceptual and diametric parallel to that other work: while Midnight Odyssey provides an emotionally draining, immensely consistent journey beyond our native sphere, this project attempts to drill below the surface of that very same world. Centered around a fantastical underground liege and his gradual spiral into madness, it explores feelings of isolation, loss, and the strange beauty of an alien environment: in this case, the desperation and depression of fighting off the lightless infinity of a crushing, hollow place.

Despite their polar opposition in thematic content, The Crevices Below & Midnight Odyssey do occupy the same niche of their genre, if not entirely. Droning, spacious guitars resonate along the echo of dour, narrative rasping, while synthesizers and percussive, programmed clamor used to imitate the natural subterranean environment, as if you were experiencing lost machinery, the clanging of rocks and metals, the dripping of underground streams. This is captured in six movements, one of which ("Below the Crevices") centers on larger swaths of ambient escalation, another upon pure keyboard instrumentation ("Whispers of Sorrow"), yet another on resonant dementia ("The Tomb of Subterranea"). My favorite chunk of the disc comes at the very climax, between the bleak, Gothic suburbs of "Trapped in Suicidal Depths" and the epic indictment that is "Carrying the Cries of the Lost"; 11 minutes of thundering melodic torment offset with sparse acoustic sequences.

There is more variation here than upon Firmament, which for all its brilliance was of a single, beautiful course. Dis Pater is exploring more clean vocals, and a more cohesive story arc to fuel the emotional undertow. There is still that same, predictable feeling here that dominated most of Midnight Odyssey's compositions, and yet the music is so unabashedly atmospheric that it no impediment to the sediment of sadness and atrophy. All told, I'm not sure I took away quite so much as with that album, which took me entirely by surprise, but it's still amazing. Redundant title aside, Below the Crevices is worth repeated exposure, especially if you can set the proper mood and environment to enjoy it on its own terms. I recommend an old basement, or if you're lucky enough to have a local cave network...go for it. Or just the dark recesses of your solitude, with a single candle lit to remind you of your humanity amidst the ominous oppression of callous, crushing stone.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

http://www.midnight-odyssey.com/?page_id=146