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The
vocals of Ville Vierimaa are strange. Hell, they are
beyond strange. They are bizarre and fucked up. It
literally has taken me over two days of careful
deliberation to decide whether I dig them or not. I am
sorry to say that despite me being a lover of the weird
can’t establish any connection to this all important
aspect of Umbra Nihil’s music. Ville, who goes by the
nickname of Vilpir, has this awful tone deaf voice. At
times, his vocals sound filtered and effect laden. They
also sound wobbly and half-assed. But it’s not like he
could do any better were his vocals left untouched.
There doesn’t seem to be any effort of Vilpir’s part to
carry the tunes and the voice itself doesn’t show any
range nor power. This weirdness is on purpose, of
course, but it doesn’t work. The intended psychedelic
effect is cold and oblique. The sci fi vibe one gets
from it is nothing but distant.
I have not
had the chance to listen to Umbra Nihil’s 2005 debut Gnoia, but
from what I hear it’s a stellar recording by all accounts. The
music of The Borderland Rituals is mainly doom metal. The label
calls it ‘undefined slow metal’ and I wouldn’t disagree
because all that weirdness and frantic angularity that permeates
the arrangements is just as absurd as it is puzzling. So the
music promises and moves forward via an almost prog rock
mentality. The songs are typically long. Unlike most doom metal
bands there doesn’t seem to be any effort to out-heavy the
competition, instead the band varies tempos and chords, not
without letting each simmer for at least a good couple of
minutes.
A problem
with The Borderland Rituals is its sequencing. The first song
“Welcome to the Borderland” is perhaps very descriptive of Umbra Nihil’s formula, but is also the worst and would undoubtedly
scare a few listeners away. “Open the Gate” on the other hand,
opens in full psychedelic mode and once the doom makes an
entrance they come along Vilpir’s untouched vocals. The guy is
not an ace in the hole, but give him a break. Here despite sounding
awkward he also sounds natural. Plus, his lines move with the
riff, they grow and shrink with the volume.
Better yet
are the instrumental parts. “Sea of Sleep” does have that
‘navigation’ feeling where the music moves effortlessly, as if
powered by wind. Fourteen minute closer “The Sign of Death”
brings the sense of epic to the record. Open, stated and simple
heavy metal chords move, clear spacey keyboards well-positioned
in the back strangely give way to atonal riffage. This then
shifts to proto death metal speed. The Borderland Rituals shows a
band that is unafraid to experiment. They just need more work with some of
the execution.
Official Site
MySpace
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