Warnungstraum - Inter Peritura
Italy's Warnungstarum walk a fine line between black metal and atmospheric ambient metal. Sometimes it becomes difficult to decide which is which when it comes to their debut album 'Inter Peritura.' One part depressing the other manic, the album is often caught between sorrow and madness as it flips back in forth between the melodic soft parts and the harder, raging black metal bits. Take "Grave Regina Immonda" for example. It starts out slow then builds into the distorted guitar which trudes along almost like doom metal with vocals sounding like they are vomiting out every word and suddenly everything breaks into soft, melodic string pickings that reminisce of Opeth until the harsh vocals come back in, and they sound even more perturbed than before with the somewhat dreamy music in the background behind it as opposed to the guitars droning on and on in black metal fashion. Other tracks like "Ingresso" are void of vocals and have a more symphonic edge to them, rounding out the atmospheric ambient parts of the music with a battle march that is complete with percussion, horns, and keyboards in the background much like a viking call to war.
There are also clean vocals on the album which are more for atmosphere than trying to be any sort of counter to louder, harsh black metal vocals. On "Hoc Unum Scrio," another one of the more acoustic, atmospheric tracks, one can hear the clean vocals take on more of a monk, church-like tone which suits the song perfectly... but then everything is ruined as it changes more to a depraved, anguished howling like someone being tortured in a dungeon with echoing walls. While it serves to enhance the creepy factor within the music, it destroys the ambient beauty that could have made this track the perfect interlude of a balance in the eye of an ambient black metal storm. The clean vocals sometimes are added into the harsher black metal tracks like "La Maschera Del Nulla," but they are much harder to hear when the guitars are raging and when layered with the harsh vocals, the clean vocals have no contest. Sadly for any bit of peace listeners will have to wait until "Congedo" which is similar to "Hoc..." in the way that Warnungstarum aimed for a church ambiance with the keyboards, and serves as much better outro than any of the other tracks would.
Overall this debut is a varied piece that keeps switching back and forth between harsh and melodic, which is better than a lot of the more generic ambient black metal bands who end up either being too quiet or too fuzzy and difficult to make any sense of. Warnungstraum is more of a combination between black metal, doom, and ambient metal, but overall the tone is certainly sorrowful and twisted, like a nightmare that Karna just couldn't quite pull together perfectly. While this may not be as disturbing as Benighted In Sodom or epic as Haeresciarchs Of Dis, 'Inter Peritura' is a dark journey that is worthy of any meditation by candlelight to absorb the best effect of what this album has to offer. While much of the lyrics are in Italian- a possible language barrier- the band focuses more on the vocals as part of the atmosphere rather than tell much of a story. One will get more out of a sitting through the music contemplating it rather than trying to read the lyrics off of Google translate as a distraction.
There are also clean vocals on the album which are more for atmosphere than trying to be any sort of counter to louder, harsh black metal vocals. On "Hoc Unum Scrio," another one of the more acoustic, atmospheric tracks, one can hear the clean vocals take on more of a monk, church-like tone which suits the song perfectly... but then everything is ruined as it changes more to a depraved, anguished howling like someone being tortured in a dungeon with echoing walls. While it serves to enhance the creepy factor within the music, it destroys the ambient beauty that could have made this track the perfect interlude of a balance in the eye of an ambient black metal storm. The clean vocals sometimes are added into the harsher black metal tracks like "La Maschera Del Nulla," but they are much harder to hear when the guitars are raging and when layered with the harsh vocals, the clean vocals have no contest. Sadly for any bit of peace listeners will have to wait until "Congedo" which is similar to "Hoc..." in the way that Warnungstarum aimed for a church ambiance with the keyboards, and serves as much better outro than any of the other tracks would.
Overall this debut is a varied piece that keeps switching back and forth between harsh and melodic, which is better than a lot of the more generic ambient black metal bands who end up either being too quiet or too fuzzy and difficult to make any sense of. Warnungstraum is more of a combination between black metal, doom, and ambient metal, but overall the tone is certainly sorrowful and twisted, like a nightmare that Karna just couldn't quite pull together perfectly. While this may not be as disturbing as Benighted In Sodom or epic as Haeresciarchs Of Dis, 'Inter Peritura' is a dark journey that is worthy of any meditation by candlelight to absorb the best effect of what this album has to offer. While much of the lyrics are in Italian- a possible language barrier- the band focuses more on the vocals as part of the atmosphere rather than tell much of a story. One will get more out of a sitting through the music contemplating it rather than trying to read the lyrics off of Google translate as a distraction.
- Ingresso
- Il Sacrificio Del Tempo
- Il Mondo E Cenere
- Hoc Unum Scio
- Grave Regina Immonda
- La Maschera Del Nulla
- Ultimo Corono Di Guerra
- Congedo
Label: http://www.nykta.gr
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Oct 3, 2011
Oct 3, 2011
Next review:
Rings Of Saturn - Embryonic Anomaly
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