If you think you’ve heard everything, listen to this one. Thy Catafalque is a one man project from Hungary with support from session musicians. “Rengeteg” is a musical work from the world of the unusual which has been developing since 1999 when La Catafalque was a duo playing Black Metal. The work is described as Avant-Garde Metal. I agree with that. Whilst recognisable in its individual forms, the end result is a piece of music from another planet.
The album starts with an explosive nine minute track. Thunderously dark and heavy with an ostentatious drum pattern, “Fekete Mezóg” has an element of everything. It is Total Metal. Haunting and melodic vocals, not dissimilar to Peter Tätgren’s Pain, should really go with this, but they do. But then so does plaintive and sweet-sounding Folk singing. I can’t think of a more attention-grabbing beginning to an album than this. Distorted vocals and industrial sounds end this particular Metal whirligig. The hyper robust riffs continue with “Kel Keletiszél”. To go with the darkness and heaviness, there are melodic guitars, solos and vocals which sound like Hungary has entered a folk band into Eurovision. Don’t be out off. A more traditional-sounding Central/Eastern European folk singer joins the next track “Trilobita” but of course with the by now customary Metal mayhem going on in the background.
Listening to this is like being in an alternative musical reality. There’s no observance of any rules. Everything gets thrown into the melting pot. It’s Metal, it’s Folk, it’s lively and catchy and …. well, it’s weird. I love it. And so it goes on with “Kó Koppan” with its haunting and nightmarishly repetitive rhythm. It’s like speeded up Burzum (later works) or a constantly dripping tap – your choice – with epic Classical insertions and lunatic vocals. I was half expecting it to burst into Cossack dance but it goes quiet and becomes delightful and slightly melancholic. The Classic sound returns, bringing aural comfort. It’s very inventive. Seeing that “Vashegyek”, which I believe means “Snowy Mountains” was 14 minutes long, and having heard what I had heard so far, I expected something varied and epic. I was not disappointed. That Eastern-sounding voice sings a haunting chant. Hungarian is a good language for singing, and is very expressive. A steady and disconcerting beat is pumped out as the lady sings. It starts to get heavier, darker and more industrial. A sweet and melancholically voiced male voice appears on the scene. This album goes from one peak to another. You can sing the old Fiddler on the Roof Song “If I were a Rich Man” to the rhythm. It’s very powerful. Then it transforms to punishing atmospheric instrumental darkness. I have no idea what “Vashegyek is about but it’s like a disturbing Metal mini opera. Folk music appears again. The range of vocals is interesting. The crashing drum roll precedes the sound of distorted voices. There’s so much happening that it’s almost impossible to describe. The thing that holds it all together is the permanently dark Metal rhythm. “Holdkomp” which follows takes us in another direction. Throbbing industrial sounds transform into constant sonic waves, suggesting that something terrible is about to happen. A distant voice can be heard in the background like a station announcer. The music shifts to fast electro. Nothing would surprise me any more on this album … would it? Metal intervenes to join the folksy electro rhythm. The sonic waves return. This album is an explosion of ideas, manufactured in all probability at your nearest asylum.
Although there are common touches, no two tracks are the same. “Kékingem Lobogó” is folksy Metal of a Central European kind. A fast riff is taken away by what sounds like an electric cello, before returning to the original state. Something I very much liked about this album is that it doesn’t just go off to the next whimsical concept but in spite of all the multitude and variety of ideas, tracks return to their original structure and each has a hard line running through, making it palatable to complement the rich and bewildering variety. Mellow electronic rhythms, joined by the guitar and the haunting voice, lead us into “Az Esö, Az Esö, Az Esö” (The Rain, the rain, the Rain). For once the drum is soft. I don’t know what it’s about as once again it’s in Hungarian but it doesn’t matter. It’s beautifully delivered. In the way that Burzum captured a certain ambiance with his later works, and many Viking folk groups evoke nature, this is the Hungarian equivalent. Of course it could never stay like this so we progress to “Targallyakvégül” and its thunderous heaviness. Again, for all the variety within the track, there is a remarkable consistency about it. Here distorted and angelic sounds mix simultaneously with the Metal and an easy beat. The electronic sound – kind of “Telstar Goes Metal” – brings a level of emotion and passion. The one thing we’ve been missing is out and out Black Metal and we get this on the final track “Minden Test Fü”. The creator Mr Kátai goes back to his roots. Fast and violent to start, a rather desperate-sounding man speaks and then issues a prolonged blood-curdling scream. It couldn’t end as simply as this of course. There’s a lofty chorus, and we go back to a foot-tapping melodic and folk-orientated beat. And there it ends.
What a great album. Mr Kátai provides a definition himself of his latest work, stating that “songs and sounds drift and swirl between beautifully fragile crystalline structures into harsh and sombre soundscapes”. This is a very accurate description of his own work, I’d suggest. “Rengeteg”, the album’s title, means “a lot” and that’s what we have – abundance. You may find yourself questioning your vision of musical reality but what comes out on the other side is just delightful and brilliantly innovative. Top quality musical output, cohesion and total invention are what it’s about. I realised when listening to “Rengeteg” that this was one of those rare times when I was listening to a work of total originality.
http://www.myspace.com/thycatafalque
Andrew Doherty
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