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Klabautamann > The Old Chamber > Reviews
Klabautamann - The Old Chamber

A little step backwards.. - 82%

nilgoun, December 18th, 2011

This record seems to be a perfect match on the first glimpse, as there are ten tracks with an average playing time of round about five minutes – just like their latest output Merkur. There should be enough room for every fancy idea this duo could have and still it seems to be unused. This doesn’t mean, that the tracks are bad at all, but they lack of innovation.

This could be tracked back to the fact, that The Old Chamber doesn’t want to be the second Merkur, and it shouldn’t be, since the duo wanted to play some oldschool black metal. They managed to do so, as the fundament of the tracks could remember you of some scandinavic black metal. That means, that there are dominating mid-tempo passages with some rock influenes and everything on the basis of quite simple riffs and solid drum beats. There are these gurgling vocals and so you could be remembered of the pure black metal passages of Enslaved, as there is this glimpse of progressivity.

The whole record is on a tighrope walk between monotonous, simple passages and breeze of Merkur - which the most of you might have anticipated – and therefore some progressivity. Sadly, this is just a mere reference to Merkur, as the songs aren’t nearly as complex and although there are some good basic approaches there is nothing which would cause you to listen intensively. There are, nevertheless, some highlights though, for instance some disharmonies, some thrash metal influences or the classical/acoustic interlude The Old Chamber. The production is somewhat raw but still powerful and well done so there is nothing to complain about.

Conclusion:

The Old Chamber could have been a really excellent record, if Merkur wouldn’t exist. It offers some good old black metal of the scandinavian school, but it lacks innovation. Merkur does exist and so there is this bitter aftertaste of regression. The tracks are well done and suite one another but due to this, there is some monotony that can’t really be balanced through the use of the disharmonies etc. The Old Chamber is a collection of great black metal songs, that are overshadowed by their latest record Merkur.

Originally written for http://threnodies.com

Down from the clouds, to the cliff's edge - 75%

autothrall, November 22nd, 2011

The inevitable fallout from having written a masterpiece is that the clinging vessels of anticipation are bound to be disappointed with whatever the artist records next, and this pretty much sums up my opinion of Klabautaumann's latest. Merkur was such a beautiful and lush dichotomy of ideals, so precisely balanced upon the precipice of harrowing loneliness, metered aggression and tranquil escape that I am still listening to it on a regular basis. Surely these Germans' ears number among the finest in all Europe at coercing elements of folk, progressive rock and black metal into the same space, and that work easily furthered the already-magnificent execution of their 2005 sophomore Der Ort.

The Old Chamber, by comparison, is a mix of epiphany and heel-dragging. A few of the songs are incredibly well written extensions of the sound they were getting at with the previous album, and others are just plodding and almost hinging upon ennui. This is sadly the case for the first track on the album, "Mary's Abbey" which cruises along with a predictable swerve of chords while Tim Steffens' gravelly rasp and a stream of sad, simple melodies attempt to build a broader atmosphere. Once you transition into the far brighter, more hopeful sheen of "Bog Spawn", the album seems to immediately pick itself up off the floor and swim the same channels as Merkur, with a lovely yet dire folk break and some excellent, uplifting riffs wedged into the bridge. The ensuing "Dead Marshes" is a bit heavier, with some more mystical black/thrash melodies that are better fit to the headbanging of the audience, and "The Crown of the Wild" introduces some added dissonance with tremolo riffing and dense chords of abandon, though it's a little jilted.

Deeper in we go, and the results come out mixed. "Gloom" has a decent atmosphere as it shifts between swaggering, slower rhythms and desperate chugging, but leaves no real impression. "The Old Chamber" is an instrumental, classic/acoustic guitar piece which might have proven more effective if it flowed into a song more inspiring than "Death's Canvas", which is a 50/50 mix of quality and uninspired riffing. But then the album takes a turn for the better in the transient, dark plodding of "The Maze" and the rocking, mug pounding fervor of "Black Rain", which might just be my favorite individual track. The finale, "The Dying Night" is also quite good, with some blissful strains of spooky melody abroad its slower, marching pace.

Strangely enough, this is no stylistic departure from Merkur. The notes simply don't often arrange themselves into such emotionally engraving pastures as the harried, melodic black metal of "When I Long for Life" or the airy, eloquent "Stygian". They're using a lot of similar, almost jazzy chord techniques here, but in general the music is not so busy or dynamically bristling. A few of the tunes just lull themselves into submission, and the clean vocals used are never so sobering and effective as, say, "Der Wald ist Ein Meer". In the end, The Old Chamber does feel more or less like a series of outtakes not good enough to make that cut. This is still a pretty good album, and I wouldn't kick it out of bed for eating crackers. If you enjoyed Der Ort or Merkur than you might be content with more of the same, but it's just not the magnum opus that I and Klabautamann fans might have hoped for.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com