Artist: Massemord (POL)
Title: The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope
Type: Album
Label: Pagan Records

Well in terms of song titles, this has got to be the easiest album ever to review. Especially when I think of how I usually struggle with Polish albums, often resorting to the copy and paste method from trusty Metal Archives. This has got to be pretty rare, that a band release an album and an EP simultaneously, and the album has fewer tracks than the EP. Yes, The Madness Tongue Devouring Juices of Livid Hope (TMTDJOLH for short?) is simply one loooong 35 minute track that will most probably test those of you with short attention spans. I really did want to hear this album, as while I’m not familiar with the band (who aren’t to be confused with the Norwegian band of the same name), they do contain 4 members from Furia who have very much impressed recently especially with their latest EP ‘Halny.’ From what I’ve read up on Massemord, Madness Tongue… (yeah, that’s easier) is a bit of a change from their previous works, for starters they have in the past stuck to the more conventional 7 or 8 tracks to an album format and have been compared to the likes of Marduk, Dark Funeral and Anaal Nathrakh, which I don’t really see myself here.

Things start off on a slow, menacing prowl, a deadly guitar steamrolling forth with a constancy and real impervious strength. After a while, enter the keyboards that slide over the top working almost against the heavy downtuned guitars creating a sound that is particularly alarming. All feels as though it’s building towards something rather sinister and suddenly it dawns on me that the elements have coerced and blended into one big mass of sound that can’t really be separated until with a crash of the drums the order returns to how it was before. It does kind of feel to be going round in circles after a while, and by the third loop it seems to really build up a sense of raucousness with a wash of sounds, screeches and underlying noise.

This is certainly an unhurried release, it doesn’t really go anywhere fast nor does it have a ton of variety but it works on building a mood which only shifts very gradually once it has firmly made it’s point. By the midway point we are introduced to some shoegazy guitars and the drums get rather wild and uncontrolled with things feeling a bit more on the pine-scented side I’d also attribute to Furia. The bass rises up, sounding glutinous and rich, while the vocals are a desperate rasp. There are shades of melancholy here as we gradually drift back to that menacing riff we started with which always seems to find it’s way back into things. This is actually a rather good listen; despite the length it manages to stay focussed, going off at various tangents but always coming back to the main path. It all drives along with a heavy thud, and while it incorporates some melancholic shoegaze elements it isn’t overly wistful or romanticised. I’m not sure if I would pay album price for this on CD, but it’s at least worth a download if you’re into atmospheric black metal.

http://www.let-the-world-burn.org/