Vaamatar – Medievalgeist (Plaintive Cries US Black Metal)

 

Well that’s a black metal logo, right? But that art…something…more to it…something sinister and plaintively classique perhaps? Whatever that vague feeling is, I knew it was going to totally crush. But wait, this is USBM, which sometimes like to think it crushes but makes us blushes from embarrassment? Not in this case. LA’s Vaamatar, whose name I believe is three Spanish words for “kill” made into a single word, are an oddity, and new in certain respects in their approach.

   

Medievalgeist itself, as a title, is a reference point for this album’s sound. This is Gothic zeitgeist right here. I don’t mean Goth, I mean Gothic. Brooding, clear in its vision, yet dense in meaning. Vaamatar are particularly skilled at crafting repetitive and circular, but memorable riffs. The main line in “Axe of Dolor” is representative of this angle, proving a splendid sense of the classic while finding a way to morph it into something modern. There’s emotion herein, a plaintive screeching for meaning and purpose, yet finding only void. Just beautiful. Slice me up.

 

Vaamatar Official Facebook

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Vaamatar – Medievalgeist
Iron Bonehead Productions, Unholy Rub Records

Cover Art: Ainul Iblis (Osman Ramadanović)
4.6 / 5