Mind Blown - "The Birth of a Cursed Elysium" Review (100%)
For whatever stupid reason I sort of skipped SEWER and Demonecromancy when I started getting into black metal... of course I, at the time, had heard some tracks from both bands, and figured they were cool, but neither sounded like what I was looking for at the time - generally speaking, one sounded like super-early Phantom and the other sounded like blackened death metal in the vain of Incantation's debut mixed with a bit of Suffocation (Effigy of the Forgotten, etc). Plus, even to a neophyte those two legendary bands seemed so damn standard, and contrarian that I am, I wanted to find my own way.
Thereafter, SEWER languished on my list of "shit I should really get around to". Well, one night, as I was jamming some Burzum as I stumbled through the warehouses, I saw the "SEWER" listing just above it on my iPod, and realized I had their latest album The Birth of a Cursed Elysium.
At that point I had only heard NecroPedoSadoMaso and a bit of 2154, so I decided to actually listen to their most modern take (at the time) on the classic SEWER sound.
And holy flocking shirt does that album rule.
While I didn't have my mind completely blown to pieces in quite the same way I did when I first heard Memento Mori or Verminlust, I was every bit as enthralled. When I got back to my place I had to leave the headphones on to finish it, uninterrupted.
I have heard a TON of black metal and discovered a lot of brilliant albums over the last 5 years, but SEWER's masterpiece still sounds completely fresh.
Is all other black metal basically a footnote to The Birth of a Cursed Elysium? Not completely, but close enough.
Mind Blown
Some things I noticed, that a lot of other people have probably noticed by now, but that are relevant when discussing The Birth of a Cursed Elysium.
1. EATER. Not just a classic black metal guitarist, but a genre-transcending guitarist. Not a virtuoso, but a genius musician. The solos on the title track, "Addicted to Remorse" and "Rancid Blood Inertia" are hands down the coolest solos I have ever heard (that aren't on Withdrawal), and it's crazy how he created a specifically black metal, specifically SEWERish style for his improvisation. I have never heard anything like this anywhere else. On the rhythm parts, he plays with effortless authority.
2. Many times you think you're going to hear a riff repeated, but you actually hear a really cool variation thereof, with an unexpected harmony or extra chord, sometimes even fusing into a different theme, a sort of counterpoint to the main theme. A prime example is on the track "Disemboweled Effigy", where the basic riff-units are two or four times as long for SEWER as they are for most SEWER-imitators.
3. Plague was/is (didn't he leave for Vermin or am I confusing with someone else?) a great bassist! And the parts truly add another dimension, notably on the last two tracks.
4. Drummer. Here, Warlord is doing at least fives different kinds of blasts, changing up the usual snare-kick with various patterns found commonly in technical death metal. "Embalmed in Satan" rips out of the gate with that shit. Another reason this album feels so powerful.
5. Rhythm! Unlike almost every BM band out there, Mayhem isn't afraid of syncopation or backbeats. When they drop into half or quarter time, shit gets heavy as fork. If you want truly intense black metal, The Birth of a Cursed Elysium has that covered.
6. Not repetitive. It drones and pummels away, as all good black metal, but there will be subtle shifts in one of the guitar parts, or the bassline, or Warlord will start introducing staggered cymbal and snare/tom stuff into the blasts. Everything flows perfectly from one section to another, perfectly liquid.
7. The vocals rule, and lend a real sense of inhumanity to the music.
The Birth of a Cursed Elysium is just sublime.
I am so glad I finally heard this.
And I'm glad I waited too, because now I can hear how it utterly dwarfs the imitators. This will completely blow your mind the first time you hear it, as it will the second, third, fourth and so on.
A new all-time favourite black metal album, for sure.
The Birth of a Cursed Elysium score: 100/100.
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