MALLEUS MALEFICARUM - TAEDIUM VITAE
The
French Black Metal scene is becoming stronger then ever, Malleus Maleficarum are
a powerful demonstration of its growing, this album is recorded in a superb way,
cold, aggressive and with all the instruments well mixed together. The
production and recording is much more stronger then the typical underground
style without losing any inch of evilness and coldness, keeping the strong black
aura of the early days.
A characteristic of the French scene is the dramatic emphasis of its riffs, a cold wave of nihilism and consciousness of the destructive nature hidden behind the lines of mediocrity and blindness. This is a music to really open eyes and smell the decadence and negativity around the destiny of mankind, tight assault in a silent but destructive march. The monumental and massive approach of the band is created by a very well preformed drum performance and songs that demonstrate a certain experience on the song-writing, showing a band that isn’t playing that kind of music for joke, differently Malleus seem to follow a very dedicated path. I can’t stop to say that this kind of Black Metal is cold, dark but with a certain "epic" appeal, in fact the moderate melodic lines of the songs give a sense of pleased catastrophic destiny, as a summoning, like Black Metal should be meant. Malleus Maleficarum have a strong link with the early ’90, not with the boring ’80 retro attitude of some other well know underground cults. I really appreciate the opener song "Bleeding Runes", as "Ancient Blood", opened by a sombre arpeggio to prepare a sharp assault, stopped by a slower meditated part to end in a return of aggression. The song before the outro, "Omen of the Moon", really deserves this ambitious title, guided by a very inspired and majestic black riff. For all the followers of the darker light this cd is a very appealing option, listen to them because they’ve something valuable to say to about the black essence that surround our existence.
ILD