“Build a blind wall of beliefs,
to save yourself from the beast of truth.
…This is the emptiness of humanity.”
These are the words on the booklet which certainly ring true. The bottom line is that our existence is meaningless, our reality no more than an illusion of the mind constructed and shaped from the moment of conception until death; when that wall of beliefs becomes eroded then nothing can save you from the empty void known as life. Speaking of empty voids, this album is all open to interpretation as there are no lyrics available and very little information about the music out there. The one thing I can tell you is that Mek Na Ver is the new project of Algol (Forgotten Tomb, Heims) and when this album seemed to come out of nowhere I had a feeling there must be some established musicians behind it as it all came across terribly professional for a debut effort. That said, it has been a long time in the making as according to the inlay it was composed in 2003 and recorded between 2006-09, my guess is that it was partly due to finding the right musicians and the right label to release it on.
At just over half an hour in length, this is a neat little album that certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome. It should definitely appeal to fans of melodic and nature-inspired black metal and it seems to have quite a bit in common with bands like Agalloch, WITTR and Fen in the musical department although not necessarily true as far as the lyrical themes and ideologies go. There is an intensity to the blackened fury projected on ‘Grey And Deep Blue’ through its harsh guitars and frantically battered drums while a subtle earthly yarn is interwoven well enough that you can’t quite put your finger on how it is created. Occasionally things really kick up a storm and hurl out a pile of Darkthronian filth before bringing things back to a somewhat calmer equilibrium.
The third track, ‘Ater Insania’ is the one that for me lets things down momentarily which is purely down to the part where the very strong melody is chopped into by a really uninteresting drum-lead break which could just as easily be heard on the blandest of bland death metal tracks the world over and it’s a shame to break the fluidity with such a pedestrian moment. Once this is out of the way however the synths make a serious effort to take off back to the skies as the soar wonderfully in the mix before things really slow down bringing a touch of melancholy into proceedings and the flutes are a nice touch here too. The hypnotic guitars really lure one in on ‘Anima’ which is morose yet powerful, battering ferociously away with plenty of passion and intensity. There is no fluff to be found clogging up this release, its beauty shines through effortlessly within a harsh and extreme musical frame revealing itself to those of us who are able to find it without even trying. This has its moments of mourning and reflection but its harshness isn’t sacrificed as a result.
This is not quite a flawless effort and Mek Na Ver do have some work to do, but while it does stumble a little in places it is overall a very exciting and genuine debut.
http://www.myspace.com/meknaver
Luci Herbert
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