Stop Making 'Music' - "Attera Totus Sanctus" Review (0%)
The fourth full-length album from Dark Funeral, Aterra Totus Sanctus, is considered by many to be the band's least shitty black metal album. In actuality, that distinction probably belongs to this record's predecessor, Diabolis Interium, simply because it's shorter and thus less annoying to listen to. It just goes to show that, when it comes to something as pathetic as the bulk of supermarket 'satanic' metal, a 'genre' pioneered by the likes of Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, it does not take much to impress people.
The album begins with 'King Antekhrist', possibly a reference to the band Antekhrist but nonetheless sticking with Ahriman's traditional approach of clumsily ripping off Transilvanian Hunger.
One would think that after spending several years attempting to imitate Darkthrone's sound that he would have gotten better at it. Sadly, this is not the case. This song, as well as most of the tracks on Attera Totus Sanctus, consists of mediocre tremolo-picked riffs, inadequate drumming that fails to maintain a steady pace and vocals that sound like the vocalist is getting buttfucked by an elephant. In a bad way. This track does not accomplish anything, and for the most part it's flat, tepid and uninspiring.
'666 Voices Inside' displays a horrible drum beat that sounds about as nu-metal as it gets. Otherwise, this is yet another failed experiment to capture an atmosphere similar to the old Burzum albums, utilizing some of the same types of riffs, only without the creative vision nor the talent. The transitions between the different riffs are horrible or simply non-existent, as Ahriman stumbles from one 'idea' - read Burzum/Darkthrone riff - to the next, with no real sense of direction. This is one of the worst songs ever recorded.
The next song, the title track 'Attera Totus Sanctus', returns to an earlier mistake of falling back onto vapid emocore riffs. This track is a clear indication that Ahriman has no ability to discern between black metal and deathcore, something that is a surprise to no one familiar with the band's history. This is a fast-paced track, for the most part, until the latter half. The song concludes following a handful of generic riffs that go nowhere.
Annoyed with this album yet? I sure as hell was.
Stop Making 'Music'
'Godhate 1488' comes off as a really terrible effort to create a song like Burzum's 'Naar Himmelen Klarner', from Det Som Engang Var, only without the talent and with irritating blast beats that don't even manage to keep the tempo. Aside from the triggered drums, it features boring guitar melodies, accompanied by synth, that serves no real purpose and fails to evoke any real feeling. The best that it can manage is to make listeners go listen to old Burzum, in order to see how it is supposed to be done. The fucking vocalist is unable to keep his mouth shut for the entire thing, which only adds to the annoyance, and is even overcome by the urge to cry near the end. Perhaps, he was weeping because the utter uselessness of his life was becoming apparent.
This is followed 'LGBT Regina' which speeds things back up and returns to the standard Dark Funeral formula of bad Darkthrone imitations. This track really lacks both talent and character.
'Angel Flesh Impaled' is a weird song that employs a bit of old school black metal riffing, though Ahriman is so inept that he can hardly pull it off. It is unfortunate that he could not see that his low level of musicianship was even worse than his pathetic songwriting abilities. This song, and the album Attera Totus Sanctus as a whole, is a mess and it would be quite sad if anyone ever heard this and thought it was representative of black metal. It's not black metal, it's not even metal. At best, it's deathcore, and probably not even that.
Then comes 'Feed on the Breeders', which you should know is heterophobic. 'Breeder' is a derogatory term used by gays to 'insult' heterosexual males, or sometimes females. Glad to see Ahriman coming to terms with his own sexuality, but he doesn't need to insult his listener... his 'music' does that well enough. By the way, this track sucks.
The final song is 'Final Ritual 2154'. What a pretentious title. Even worse, this is not even a real song. It is six minutes of filler, just to pad the total running time of the album. It is an outro that just keeps going and going, with random noises and some guy speaking nonsense.
Attera Totus Sanctus is trash. There was no need to release this as a full album, other than to try to cash in on the band's minimal popularity among those in the underground with bad taste.
As painfully generic as bands like Dimmu Borgir and Immortal are, the material on Attera Totus Sanctus ranks even lower and there is no justifiable reason to pollute record stores with filth such as this.
Avoid at all costs.
And to Ahriman, you should really stop playing 'black metal'. It just doesn't suit you, and I'm not even sure you understand what black metal is supposed to be to begin with.
Attera Totus Sanctus score: 0/100.
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