Sunday, December 5, 2010

Veneficum – In tranquil Absurd (Self-Release 2010)


I’ve been a fan of this Chicago based symphonic Black metal band since there brilliant “Dysphoria” album and when they came to me with this one I was totally humbled and excited. After about 6 years in the making this recent release is not only as intense and majestic as their debut, but even more. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this release is the exact reason why I loved this stuff beginning with “In the Nightside Eclipse”, “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, “Dark Medieval Times”, “Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism”, and “In Abhorrence Dementia”. The amount of atmosphere and brute force, not to mention evil, that can be captured in black metal is undeniable as these bands and newer acts like Veneficum continue to drop the bomb on the listener with their storm of metallic fury that we have come to expect from this style.

The album opens up with “The Return” featuring some haunting female vocals and chugging riffs that conjure up sensations of intense and chaotic bouts of struggle. Bands like Veneficum continue in the post Emperor era to prove that symphonic black metal can still be belligerent and annihilating to the senses through a battering ram arsenal of percussion, scathing fury, and dense atmospheres of black holes and parallel universe philosophies that’ll make your head spin as your mind tries to wrap around each piece of this audio puzzle. In Tranquil Absurd, to me is the sound of the cosmos and the dark universe that surrounds us as each tiny piece leads us further mentally and literally into unknown realms both mysterious and possibly treacherous. The entire album is a cinematic, lucid journey that is chaotic and at times celestial (?), you have to experience to understand it.

You definitely don’t want to miss this one:
http://www.myspace.com/veneficum

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