Ver Sacrum - Tyrrenika
Ver Sacrum are an interesting lot from Italy in the sense they are more focused on delivering a bit of a history lesson, be it based on real or fictitious events. Instead of embracing the usual themes of death and satanism that blackened death metal can hold, the band's debut, "Tyrrenika", is "a concept album that tells the story of the Etruscan people as it has handed down from Herodotus to [the band]." So basically, listeners have another concept album to embrace. There isn't much in the way of epic storytelling though as some concept albums do here; the band still likes to keep the music straight up thrash with death/black metal vocals.
Opening with an atmospheric introduction including spoken word passages in italian, the music eventually gets heavy with the second track. The music has the buzz saw edge to the guitar to give it the black metal influence along with the vocals and rapid fire drums. Everything is brutal with no cheesy synth or keyboards. "Nethun's Embrace" and "Ceremony Of Fire" delve more into the thrash genre with being more catchy and less in a steady stream of buzzing riffs. The drums are still nonstop hammering with the cymbals but fans will certainly find the second half of the album more enjoyable than the first, history lesson aside. The black metal elements are still there every once in a while the way everything tries to be extreme and the screeching goes on, but there's also some more interesting elements such as brief acoustic passages and more spoken word sections. The title track seems extremely out of place with the sudden "almost" country interlude with the guitar, but eventually that dissolves into the black metal sea of guitar riffs. Aside from being strangely comical, it is also one of the few moments where listeners can understand what the vocalist is saying in english and get some idea of how the story is going. One can make out some stuff about "barbarians" but that is about it. For the most part a lyrics book is required.
The "Outro" closes things on an interesting note with a slow bass melody before a female vocal section comes in. It's a great ambient/cultural addition to the music and a shame it wasn't used more often throughout the album as a whole. The fact that Ver Sacrum are serious about their music and that they want to deliver something important to the fans is noteworthy enough, but there is a lot of other stuff on their debut in the way of vocals, riffs, and other interesting sections that show the band has a lot of potential. They just need to spread it out and use it more for maximum delivery.
Opening with an atmospheric introduction including spoken word passages in italian, the music eventually gets heavy with the second track. The music has the buzz saw edge to the guitar to give it the black metal influence along with the vocals and rapid fire drums. Everything is brutal with no cheesy synth or keyboards. "Nethun's Embrace" and "Ceremony Of Fire" delve more into the thrash genre with being more catchy and less in a steady stream of buzzing riffs. The drums are still nonstop hammering with the cymbals but fans will certainly find the second half of the album more enjoyable than the first, history lesson aside. The black metal elements are still there every once in a while the way everything tries to be extreme and the screeching goes on, but there's also some more interesting elements such as brief acoustic passages and more spoken word sections. The title track seems extremely out of place with the sudden "almost" country interlude with the guitar, but eventually that dissolves into the black metal sea of guitar riffs. Aside from being strangely comical, it is also one of the few moments where listeners can understand what the vocalist is saying in english and get some idea of how the story is going. One can make out some stuff about "barbarians" but that is about it. For the most part a lyrics book is required.
The "Outro" closes things on an interesting note with a slow bass melody before a female vocal section comes in. It's a great ambient/cultural addition to the music and a shame it wasn't used more often throughout the album as a whole. The fact that Ver Sacrum are serious about their music and that they want to deliver something important to the fans is noteworthy enough, but there is a lot of other stuff on their debut in the way of vocals, riffs, and other interesting sections that show the band has a lot of potential. They just need to spread it out and use it more for maximum delivery.
- Plague And Dearth
- Farewell By The Lightning
- Nethun's Embrace
- Ceremony Of Fire
- The Voice Of Wisdom
- Hintu
- Tyrrenika
- Our Blood
- Outro
Horus Music (Rock Over Records)
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 13, 2010
Apr 13, 2010
Next review:
Kubla Khan - Six Sex Six
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