Aischrolatry

As much as the 'Orthodox BM' trend seems to have come and gone leaving in its wake a fair amount of imitators that never quite reached the heights of the progenitors of the scene like DSO, Watain, Arkhon Infaustus etc., there are a few bands that have taken the genre and worked on it competently like Rex Mundi, Mortuus and Ascension, it is into this group that Atramentum's 'Aischrolatry' can be filed.

I had to google Aischrolatry and apparently it means 'filth worship', I get the feeling this is a nod to the bands that Atramentum so clearly admires; Aischrolatry is an album brimming with ideas that at some points very obviously wears its influences on its sleeve e.g Track 7 'The Smiters' sounds very Ofermod-ish, yet at the same time it still manages to incorporate some new sounds and styles, such as the lead guitar work which is generally not seen within most BM. The composition of the songs is highly varied, rarely continuing a whole motif throughout a song, with the tempo and feel of each song shifting wildly throughout each track.

The instrumentation on the album is a mixed bag, the guitar work and riffs are great; there is definitely a keen ear for melody and catchy riffs along with more somber, slower atmospheric passages that recall DSO's use of off-kilter dissonance, unfortunately the performances are a bit sloppy at times and the tone of the guitars can be quite thin which can leave the ear struggling to pick out guitar lines across the wall of noise. The bass is standard BM bass, it follows the guitars the majority of the time and only occasionally has it's own lines shining through the tracks. Drums are one of the biggest downfalls of the album, they are programmed and very obviously so, I think that with a drummer or better programmed drums similar to a band like Aosoth, this release would have sounded a lot more competent. F.G.R.X definitely as some skill with his voice as well, a varied performance including everything from death metal growls to higher traditional screams, the only downfall is that they are just a bit to high in the mix and at times obscure the guitars.

Which leads me to my biggest criticism of the album, the production. I have no problems with rough recordings when it suits the music but it is very apparent here that it has not been mixed in the best way possible, it can be hard to distinguish each instrument and they sometimes fight for space within the track, denigrating the overall experience.

All in all for a first outing its pretty solid, theres some great tracks and ideas, however it needs to be refined; better production, more cohesive songs and this would have been a 9/9.5 out of 10. I'm interested to see what Atramentum can do on their next outing

Favourite tracks: the obscene ones, the smiters and the hinderers.