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You
really have to be a satanic bad ass to pull off symphonic black metal without sounding like a total
cheese stick. The fact that people like you doesn’t
mean shit. Not to me anyway. Most people are sheep and
don’t know much about music anyway. Or they have bad
taste and think Cradle of Filth are absolute gods. So it
is with skepticism that I listen to Rex Mundi, the debut
by Greece’s Unholy Ritual. Has it changed my mind? No.
Have they convinced me? Not really. I still think that
were they’d be better off ridding of Architect of Chaosmos Supernal (AKA the dude in charge of the synth).
That said. I
understand why symphonic black metal exists. It is majestic
music because it’s loaded with reverence to the horned one. It’s
gothic elegance loaded with Transylvanian allure. It’s visceral
guitars bathed by a dude in front of a keyboard, unable to rock
out or headbang like it’s meant to be. It’s spectacular and lush
music grounded by miserable budgets. It’s an irreverent clash
between will and might. And it usually fucking bores me.
But Rex Mundi is not without its exhilarating moments. Get past the
synth intro on “Exiled As a Serpent (Returned As a Wolf)” and
there is a killer riff there. On several occasions vocalist Erevos
(Reaper of Time) sounds mighty scary and ghoulish, and
drummer Talos’ (Mechanical Blasphemy) displays some impressive
blast beats (“What Lies Beneath”) and lightning fast footwork.
So fast are his lower appendages I wouldn’t be surprised there
is indeed, something mechanical there.
But for
every good bit there is silly Satanism and bloated orchestration
(“Consequences”) galore. But get past that and you can come to
appreciate the true potential of an orchestrated black metal
band at its zenith in the song “Childish Fears”. Stupid ass
spooky sounds apart, overworked arrangements and all, it’s a
tricky albeit quasi killer tune.
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