Anomalie is the project of Austrian Black Metallers Selbstentleibung’s guitarist Marrok. Unlike his main band’s work, Anomalie is more of a Post-Black Metal sounding project. Using the core elements of black metal song writing and structure – blastbeats, pounding rhythms, tremolo picked guitars and harsh vocals which border between scream and rasp at times and most importantly, the art of being able to craft a vast sonic landscape to explore whilst you listen to it. With this being Marrok’s own personal vision, we join him on his journey through a vast spectrum of emotions and states – hope, despair, beauty, bleakness, reality, the surreal, liberation and oppression. With the album name translating to ‘refuge’, let’s see what we could be seeking refuge from.
Opening up with a haunting and atmospheric acoustic tinted progression, “In Fear Of Tomorrow” begins to draw you in. With almost tribal like drum patterns and dramatic sounding tremolo picked distorted lead melodies, it creates a slightly surreal and intense feeling before it kicks in fully with a massive sound. Raw and passionately delivered vocals over a solid rhythm and melodic dark sounding lead riff make for a stunning sound in the verse and this continues to the first major feel change round the three minute point. Here the vocals take on an eerie sound with a softer delivery before a minute later, it explodes into a melodic death metal sound reminiscent of Dark Tranquillity but with black metal overtures in the vein of Ishahn. It’s a stunning opening effort.
“Spiritual Distortion” doesn’t take the easing you in approach however. From the off its pounding and dissonant sounding intro hits you at a steady pace with thunderous force. Picking up the pace a little, the slightly symphonic sounding lead melody adds an extra layer to the sound and has a Borknagar like feel to it. Clever use of clean lead fills add a good touch and more dynamics to the track and the riff sections come heavy and at a decent pace with precise drums, a tight melodic progression and a solid vocal delivery. As it progresses, it slips between a smooth flowing and jarring feel with minimal fuss or momentum lost and the melodic solo towards the end is well composed and has some brilliant phrasings and tone behind it.
“Untouched Walls” keeps the dramatic feel up. With a synth and sample heavy intro, a faint guitar riff comes in which is just about audible, especially when the meaty sounding rhythm guitar section kicks in. The main melodic guitar progression is simple but has a good quality hook to it which keeps it feeling familiar and the subtle vocals which are barely audible in the build up finally come to life with venom and ferocity in their delivery round the 1:30 point. Despite being overly nihilistic sounding, it does have some brighter melodies in it to provide a good contrast to the rhythm and vocal delivery and at times it descends into entropy with a furiously delivered middle section which eventually eases off and ends on a clean, melodic acoustic section which draws the track to a close.
“Between Reality And The World Beyond” brings back the livelier feel with that Dark Tranquillity edge to the sound despite the dark overtures of the track. Once again, the musical delivery is tight. The simplistic progression of the rhythm with the expressive lead melodies which dance across the track add more layers to the sonic landscape Marrok is creating here and it sounds even bigger than what it actually is. With a melodic solo leading the way to a faster feel section, its delivery is spot on. The bass sounds huge and like the rest of the tracks so far, it has a real powerful delivery which certainly gives a good impact and brings that intensity to it in terms of atmosphere and not heaviness or volume. “Solace” slows it down with a heavy chugged rhythm and the slow building lead melody gives a great build up feel so when it does kick in to the pounding rhythm with fast paced riffs and a real thunder to it, it comes across even more venomous. Once again, the simplistic rhythmic structure of the song provides a great backdrop for the dynamic vocal delivery which really dictates the dark feel and the lead guitar melodies which help bring the track to life and the only real intricacies lie towards the end when it shifts into a clean and acoustic progression with a warm sounding distorted lead which fades the track out.
“Leaving Somina” brings back the drama and flair. With a hypnotic acoustic guitar line over a thick chugged distortion and clean, spoken vocals, it builds the anticipation and round the 1 minute mark, it kicks into life with some melodic riffs before it really gets going at the 1:30 point. Faster pace, thicker sounding rhythm and more complex drum patterns really up the heaviness and intensity of the track and as always, the lead melodies augment the rhythmic backdrop brilliantly, giving it a massive sound and feel. With some real powerful vocal displays across the track, this is one of the stand out moments of the album, especially with the acoustic and distorted guitar interplay sections but the ending is the best – a real blackened approach to a mid-90’s In Flames sounding progression with some powerful primal roar like vocals. “Freiflug 48° 23´ N, 16° 19’ O” translates to ‘free flight’ and what I assume to be co-ordinates (A quick look in google isn’t much help but possibly it’s Austria, if any readers crack this, please let me know!). It has a slower, more melodic approach to it with a bright tone which is a welcome change given how dark the majority of the album has been. With multiple layers intricately weaved on top of one another, it has a complicated sound initially but when you focus on the individual parts and not the entire thing, it’s easier to follow. The layers eventually clear up to a stripped back acoustic progression which has a warm sound and very uplifting feel to it but this doesn’t last too long as the distortion kicks in with the harsh vocal screams once more. What is unique though is how despite the heavy sound and style of music, it still maintains its upbeat edge and the rich bassline underneath all this is a delight to take in. With a clean melodic progression adding extra to the scope of the track, it goes near enough totally acoustic round the 4:20 point before a powerful vocal roar soon after snaps it back into the distorted progressions to bring the track to a close.
Closing the album is the title track, “Refugium” and it is an 11 minute epic. From the start you have a sense that this draws the entire album together and you wouldn’t be wrong. The huge hybrid of melodic death metal and black metal composition brings a multi-layered chaotic sound. Blasting drums, rapid fire guitars with that melodic hint to them and powerful bass brings the ferocity once again but as the verse comes in, it slows down. The sound is huge and the vocals are as raw as ever but when it springs back to life again round the 1:46 part, we get one of the best faster paced sections of the album. It has a real melodic hook to the lead progression and this pops up again several times through the track, often preceding or following the shifts to a more black metal sounding section where the chaotic feel comes back once more. Near the halfway point it eases off to a lighter distortion before heavy chugged guitars come back in before the black metal urgency explodes again and at the 6 minute point, there is a fantastic lead melody section which has a great atmosphere building effect and a real rich sounding bassline. As mentioned before, the switches between fast melodic progressions and slower intense heavy progressions continues and round the 9:30 point, the distortion slowly eases off, being replaced by a haunting keyboard based melody and clean sounding ringing guitars which fade out and draw this experience to a close.
Overall, “Refugium” is a fantastic album for a genre of music which is not one of my preferred ones. It takes the core elements of black metal and applies a more progressive slant to them instead of primal and animalistic one, giving a better atmosphere and a different kind of intensity and listening experience to the more traditional black metal bands who are all about harshness, dissonance and grim sounds. With the melodic death metal touches, the blackened metal journey through Marrok’s immersive sonic landscape is an interesting one and even if you aren’t much of a fan of the melodic side of extreme metal, I do recommend checking this out at least once, you may be pleasantly surprised.
(7.5/10 Fraggle)
Sonic Recapitulation 