Orcustus

• Artist: Orcustus
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 03, 2009
• Total Time: 0:00
• Type: Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

Proving yet again that those scary black metal kids from Bergen, Norway always play nice, as long as it's with each other, the long festering debut full-length from Orcustus sheds light on yet another, secretive long-term collaboration between otherwise occupied musicians -- in this case vocalist/guitarist Taipan (also associated to Amok and Taake), guitarists/bassists Tormentor and Infernus (both from Gorgoroth), and drummer Dirge Rep (Gorgoroth, Enslaved, Aura Noir, etc.). Recorded in 2007 after five years of sporadic band activity, and released almost two years later through Southern Lord, the album backs up its surprisingly tasteless cover art (yes, even by extreme metal standards) with some very high caliber mid-'90s style black metal. In other words: thrash-infused and technically proficient, but doused under a layer of crud during recording for that intentionally raw sound. The lyrics also traffic in the genre's usual mixture of Satanic rites and pagan rituals (good luck telling which is which), yet for all of their scorched earth proselytizing, tracks like "Coil," "Of Sophistry, Obsession and Paranoia," and "Asphyxiokenisis" frequently bound along to bouncy rhythms that are strangely reminiscent of a country hoedown! Sure, a satanic, misanthropic, baby sacrificing country hoedown, but, well...exactly. More straightforward blastbeats also figure prominently in many of the above and elsewhere (see the particularly nippy "Death & Dissolution"), and one gets the distinct feeling from the opening riff of "Jesus Christ Patricide" that it probably evolved from a rehearsal jam on Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" -- further proof of the classic metal roots lying just beneath the surface. These foundations are ultimately responsible for much of the variety distinguishing Orcustus' songwriting from many of the uniformly fast and violent assaults that tend to clutter the black metal landscape, so as long as listeners can get past the cover art, they will likely be mightily impressed with what they hear. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

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