Apparatus

Apparatus

Written by: PP on 08/03/2015 19:36:31

What is it about the Danish culture that produces bands so well embodied in capturing the barren misery of the lifeless landscapes of Scandinavian winter in general? The Psyke Project forged an entire career out of it, Hexis are now following along the same route, and here we have another group determined to vacuum all hope out of you on their self-titled debut album, "Apparatus". Opener "Sermon I" is a doom-laden, down-tempo introductory track with pure evil and satanist black metal vibes exposed bare to prepare you for the onslaught that's about to come.

Satan himself arrives on second track, the appropriately titled "The Unreverberate Blackness Of The Abyss", which should really tell you everything you need to know about Apparatus in general. Deep, guttural growls are slowly applied over despaired guitars tuned precisely to the sonic representation of the Scandinavian winter mentioned earlier. Black metal and blackened metallic hardcore are the reference points stylistically as the band pound away with a sound that essentially exhumes pure evil from every one of its notes. It's painstakingly slow at times, as seen on "Spheres", and crushingly heavy elsewhere, resulting in an oppressive sound that is uncompromising in its take-no-prisoners approach to pummeling away. The riffs are designed headbang friendly at the same time in order make your neck hurt after each listening experience, that is, if you're able to go through the record in full given its hopeless nature and devastating pressure against all things positive in life.

But that is pretty much all it has going for it. The guttural growls feel like they come from the deepest depths of their vocalist's stomach, which is an important element atmosphere-wise considering what the band are trying to achieve here. But in all honesty they aren't much to hooray for otherwise. Similarly, many songs drone along at their minimal pace providing insight into the Scandinavian black metal soundscape, but feel too anonymous and forgettable to make a proper impact. In the end, "Apparatus" is an interesting experiment in capturing evil on record and a successful one at that, but for frequent repeat listens it is not suitable.

Download: The Unreverberate Blackness Of The Abyss, Dissecting Temporal Dimensions To Afflict The Abyssi Of Chronos
For the fans of: Hexis, Celeste, Abraham
Listen: Facebook

Release date 01.02.2015
Self-Released

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