Svart Records Promo Roundup: Morbid Evils, Festerday, and Tähtiportti
It is no secret that I am a great admirer of Svart Records. Not only have they a roster with nary a spot, but it is also very diverse and includes vast amounts of doom and chambers of semi-forgotten cult classics ripe for the digging. Although neither are directly featured below, it should not be a surprise for anyone that I was delighted when I was offered a chance to take a peek into some of their upcoming albums. Without further ado, I present to you…
Morbid Evils – In Hate With The Burning World
What if Rotten Sound got really drunk and really, really hungover is a question we would be asking here if this was Jeopardy. Morbid Evils doesn’t really sound like Rotten Sound though, it just happened to be found by Keijo Niinimaa and therefore the comparisons were bound to start pouring. It’s a downtuned mess of slow, sludgy, death metal-lish and droning riffs topped with a theme of planetary destruction through the melting of polar caps. “We have a desolate worldview, and our aim is to create soundscapes that suck the listener into fiery sewers in which there is no hope for a future.”
I have some complaints about the album’s production; the guitar wall is thick and appropriate but a little too buried under the loud drums with a bad snare sound. Praised be Jeebus that this isn’t fast music or that snare could drive me crazy. On the other hand, Svart grabbed Morbid Evils only after they had recorded this album, so it’s actually a self-financed release, which makes the production issues (all of which are minor) more easily understandable. There is however a bigger flaw. Throughout the album I have a feeling that nothing is quite there yet. This IS partial to the production, but also in part to some other minor iaauwa. When the riffs are supposed to feel droning, they just come off as repetitive and when they are more sludgy, they lack the groove birthed by the bass/drum cooperation. I do, nevertheless, look forward to catching these guys live with a beer before I make my final verdict, and overall it leaves a positive taste in my mouth.
Recommended track: “South of Hell”
Festerday – The Four Stages of Decomposition
Let me start by saying that I did not at any point, personally, receive a promo-copy of this album, but I sincerely believe this is worth featuring, and I wasn’t about to throw a news roundup for one release. Festerday was originally founded in ’89 by a group of then-13/14-year-olds. Both their name and style of choice were taken from early Carcass. They recorded three demos, one of which was a split with Carnifex, before their demise although none were officially released. In ’95 the band had more-or-less transformed into …And Oceans, a symphonic BM band, only to start playing a more electronic vein of metal. As the band(s) has/ve lived in strict cycles they became Havoc Unit at the dawn of their tenth anniversary and began to play death/black infused industrial (approved by our community previously). Now they are ready to rise as Festerday again.
A bit of a history lesson I know, but remember that this is a mere “heads up, it’s coming.” The Four Stages of Decomposition is set to be released on May 29th on Svart and compiles the three recordings so far, as well as a few “recomposed” versions. If you like death metal placed between Symphonies of Sickness and Reek of Putrefaction, stream the track below. And go like these gents on Facebook.
Tähtiportti – s/t
Vilunki 3000, Stiletti-Ana and Randy Barracuda create a downbeat electronic music somewhat reminiscent of a frozen techno group on DXM, over which Sami Hynninen chants incoherent stories, like the ravings of deranged lunatic (yep, that’s a double condition). While he may be “only” a vocalist on this album, I am certain that I am not the only one to whom he was the initial attraction, and it is his chanting that keeps me so intrigued. Although, as most of you will not understand a word he speaks, I don’t expect you to feel what I do.
The album begins as a quiet trip to space and leaves you circulating amongst the stars and sounds, swaying from left to right and back to forth in the quietude and emptiness to the rhythm that is not quite yours to perceive. It is not until you arrive to the halfway, “Poikarakkaus”, a cover of a cult classic by a Finnish philosopher Esa Saarinen, that you wake into the strange beats no longer fitting in the overall mood and slowly start drowning in your own pretentiousness. While the song fits the album perfectly and even serves as the first highlight, it is still a poor representation of the overall mysticism of this journey to nowhere.
Soon after, the whole journey has to re-begin with “Tähtiportti III”, and we arrive to what is the greatest trilogy of songs to end an album that I suspect this year will produce. After the slightly new direction taken with this beginning that I actually find myself (*gasp*) dancing to comes the finest song I have heard in a while. Should you only listen to one song from all of those on display here, let it be “Tähtiportti IV: Luciferin Pylväs“. After the initial intro bells start chiming to a half-rhythm, half-melody, you realize there is no properly describing this song; it must be experienced. This album is an experience, and I could go even so far as to call it a sexual experience as much as a musical one.
As we reach the climax of the album with “Viimeinen Tähtiportti”, the chant “On niin hyvä olla, on vain niin hyvä olla…” manifests as a feeling overcoming my once-body-now-cadaver. It is good to be; it is so good to be.
An ending arrives, yet another beginning to a more space-y soundscape. Another stargate to pass. The chanting grows stronger; it draws nearer. IT draws nearer. The abyss, the abyss, the abyss, the abyss…
Both, Morbid Evils and Tähtiportti albums have been released and are fully streamable at the linked locations. Festerday’s album is to be released on the aforementioned date.
The featured image is a part of the cover of Kuolemanlaakso’s debut album, Uljas Uusi Maailma, released by Svart Records in 2012. It is featured here because I want you all to appreciate it and visit it’s creator Maahy here and like him on FB here
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