Obsequiae are a little-known black metal band from Minnesota that have apparently been around for a while (previously as Autumnal Winds), although they only showed up on my radar with this album. Their Minnesota origins surprised me a bit, as a cursory glance at the tracklist for this album reveals one song title each in (I believe) Spanish, French, and Portuguese, in addition to English. With the band being tagged simply as 'black metal' in most places, I wasn't quite ready for what I heard: definite folk influences right off the bat, with a three-minute session on some kind of old-fashioned stringed instrument (not quite sure what) starting off the album before the black metal kicks in. And when it does kick in, it, too, is infused with plenty of folky guitar melodies. This is an album that actually deserves the tag 'folk metal', unlike most of the Scandinavian rubbish labeled as such, although I've also seen it tagged as 'medieval black metal', which also seems apt. Definitely refreshing.
That said, I was feeling a little let down towards the middle. The different folky instruments tend to stay in their own little interlude tracks, with multilayered guitars taking over all the melodic duties during the meat of the black metal stuff. I do wish the band had managed to bring the two together, as weird little acoustic instruments during heavy black metal tracks is, uh, one of my musical fetishes... In addition, the album is somewhat lacking in interesting dynamics, with the tracklist pretty much sticking to a formula of black metal, black metal, interlude for the entire album.
Fortunately, the album does redeem itself towards the end. 'In the Absence of Light' picks up the pace quite a bit in terms of black metal intensity, but the track is unfortunately marred by an awkward fadeout. It is, however, followed by a little track called 'Wilweorthunga' (whatever that means), which features some of the absolute SICKEST tremolo-picked distorted black metuhl bass I've ever heard. I was still wavering on how I felt about the album until the last track, 'Orphic Rites of the Mystic', which won me over with pure HEAVY METAL riffage. The album then redeems the previous awkward fadeout with a much better-handled one featuring a FUCKING ORGAN. Unfff.
I would recommend any black metal fan to check out this album, as it's definitely one of the more interesting releases this year, and I will be certainly keeping tabs on this band in the future.
4 funny little acoustic instruments out of 5.
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