For me, this one had an air of mystery from the beginning. Luckily I knew who this album was by because I would never have guessed from the cover. Carach Angren are a symphonic Black Metal from Holland who like legends, ghost stories and strange tales. The mysterious and indeed mystical element of their work comes across in their track titles: “Haunting Echoes from the Seventeenth Century”, “Phobic Shadows and Moonlit Meadows”, “Corpse in a Nebulous Creek”, “Heretic Poltergeist Phenomena” etc.
After an opener reminiscent of a sinister movie, complete with slamming doors, a breathless escape and manic piano-playing, the musical and lyrical scene is set with “A Strange Scene near the Woods” and “Haunting Echoes of the Seventeenth Century”. There’s no denying that this album reeks Dimmu Borgir in its style, but coupled with clearly defined atmosphere of the Polish Black Metal school, not to mention a heightened sense of drama. We could be in the middle of a Gothic horror movie here. A touch of Cradle of Filth, maybe? Not at all. The nearest point of reference I could come up with is Anorexia Nervosa, but without the banality. “Lammendam” is theatrical, and so over the top at times that it’s entertaining and comical. And why not? At the same time it pursues a weird, and at times ghastly path but always dominated by that Symphonic Black Metal sound. Cascading keys are supported by strange willowy sounds and the croaks of a singer uttering dark edicts. In this case, the story of “de lammendam” is about the ghost of a lady in a white dress. Sometimes these stories and “theme albums” can pass me by, but in this case I could feel the intensity of the story and all that goes with it in the ubiquitous darker than dark lyrics: “Listen to the moans of the sick moaning dead”. The lyrics are in Dutch, English, German and French which merely serve to reinforce the fact that this is a horror show of international proportions.
Fast and furious movement characterises “Phobic Shadows and Moonlit Meadows”, whose dark orchestral tones could serve as a particularly sinister James Bond film soundtrack. The singer roars and screams, the piano plays ominously and the sense of drama and majesty is heightened, before the track ends climactically.
“Hexed Melting Flesh” is more than just a ghastly interlude. It is pivotal in reinforcing the curse-filled air before we head off into still more gripping orchestral Black Metal Majesty. The thunder precedes a spoken piece of dark poetry: “The winds came forth as if it sounded like a little child, no hundreds weeping as if they knew it’s time to die. Raindrops keep falling and falling like tears, like the infant’s sorrow as if it’s raining from their fears … it’s a pretty sick trip from hell”. Indeed, and we’re right in the middle of it.
We seem to have hit a higher level. Violins shrill urgently. More fury then reigns on “The Carriage Wheel Murder”. It’s completely absorbing, total drama. There’s so much going on. We’re back on that film set again. The singer screams and croaks like Shagrath. Turbulence reigns. It ends ominously … “Broke his neck …. Now he’s dead”.
Some distorted violins, what else, lead the way briefly on “Invisible Psychic Entity”, before the drama continues, the drums blast more, the ivories tinkle and the orchestra provides the majesty on “Heretic Poltergeist Phenomena”. The final track “La Malédiction de la Dame Blanche” (= “The Curse of the White Lady”) sums up the dark mystic atmosphere. There’s the customary big sound. The short notes are turbulent and disturbing. It’s impossible to avoid this maelstrom. Yet for all the chaos and heaviness, it’s easy to get hold of. And then it all slows down. The piano plays darkly above the constant dripping tempo of the metal orchestra. The mayhem is controlled now. It’s as if we’ve made a major but tragic discovery. The album is brought to a magnificent end.
Some see Symphonic Black Metal as outdated now, and I’m sure there will be those who will ask why a band should want to sound so much like Dimmu Borgir. Carach Angren do sound like Dimmu Borgir, but this amazing piece of theatrical headbanging deserves to be seen in its own right. I can’t recall any work where internal mental torture has been captured so brilliantly in music and words. “Lammendam” is breathtakingly absorbing and pulsating. I simply can’t recommend it highly enough.
http://www.myspace.com/carachangren
http://www.carach-angren.nl
http://www.maddening-media.de
