The Acausal Fire

Bane is not a stranger as I requested to review them after I listened and reviewed After Oblivion’s “Stamina”, an album I recommend you all check out. What’s the connection? Well the fact that drummer, Marko Gačnik, plays in both bands unfortunately he didn’t play in “The Acausal Fire” via Abyss Records. Still it’s pretty cool that he joined Bane or else I would've remained oblivious about this magnificent act from Serbia.

Now we begin with “Bringing Forth the Endless Dark Aeon”, right from the beginning they give us the impression of death. A scavenged battlefield void of life. A barren wasteland, churning in flames. A slow introduction into the countless murders. Staying in rhythm with an electric triangle, the subtle strikes bring a vibration unto fissures of land as far as the eye can see. About halfway through the song, battle war drums start to play as to signify the end of the world. Once this instrumental reaches its conclusion and on-signal to initiate destruction, “The End of Humanity”, reigns its havoc.

For the next seven tracks you finally see Bane's potential and ferocity. You are treated to a great blend of blackened death with them concentrating more on the black metal aspect. Adding melody throughout you can see it thrives on bands like Dissection and Thulcandra. Even the bass has that great traditional sound on “The End of Humanity”. Next, “In Endless Silence” contrary to its name is one of the most ravaging songs on the album. Right from the get-go they establish this fantastic melody that it’s like an injection of morphine saying to yourself this is one of the best things you’ve ignorantly experimented with. I came to the realization that this is a greatly produced album. Free from overproduction, just authentic music without unnecessary magnifications.

What I love about Nokkturno is his ability to be versatile and flexible. On songs like, “Light the Black Flame”, for example, the bass is more daring by almost sounding how a fretless would. While traditional black metal bass work makes a song seem darker and opaque, here it's selectively permeable and accessible. It’s kind of like hearing Obscura (Occultum Malleus is a big factor in that assumption as well). Nokkurno’s credibility is seen even further on songs, “The Truth Unleashed” and “World of Desolation”. On the former, he summons this catchy bass line independent of the rest of the music and it fits quite well. While the instruments are soaring and invoking, the bass is subdued and aloof.

Last but not least, “Entering the Paradoxical Sphere”, another great and beautiful instrumental. These guys decided to pay Dissection a refuge by covering “Night’s Blood”. It’s a lot more heavier and there's a quality difference. I think they did this song justice. I really wish I had heard this album before submitting my Top 10 of 2012 to my editor. This would have made the cut.

Bane's second full length album, “The Acausal Fire”, was released in 2012, just slightly before the band was placed on hold. The listener is first greeted by a brooding orchestral piece, “Bringing Forth the Endless Dark Aeon”, and it's easy to be lulled into a complacent state. After nearly three minutes of dark, yet easy listening orchestration, this Serbian black / death act truly comes forth with the first notes of “The End of Humanity”. Lightning fast blast beats and blazing trem lines burst forth with a heavier than thou attitude that continues for just about the entire forty minute run time.

This is a fast and heavy album, as the speed and intensity brought out on “The End of Humanity” continues, but the entire album isn't just blast beats and trem picking as some section show a winding, minor key guitar passage a la Marduk. During these “slower” (but no less heavy) the drums stay fast with double kicks and thunderous rolls and fills. Bane's strongest point is actually when the heaviness begins to stagnate and they ease the burden with some softer elements, such as the acoustic passage at the end of “In Endless Silence” or the traditionally inspired lead lines during “World of Desolation” and “Existence in Denial”. For the most part the vocals are a deep, raspy style with occasional higher pitches shouts that are no less raspy. A few times show a clean, chanted style of vocals, which, while extremely unexpected with such a blazing album, seem to flow in and out with ease. Even while the clean vocals are present, the music remains fast and vicious, which is an excellent counterpoint and change of pace.

The production is crisp and clear; especially so for black metal. Every guitar note is audible, the bass is thick and carries the low end while staying to rear of the mix and the drums are thunderous without detracting from the rest of the music. The bass drum is loud enough to hear each double bass run without straining but the loud and popping snare drum could be turned down a bit. The vocals are to the forefront, but like the drums, don't take away from the instruments. The cleaner vocals are a little higher in the mix than the standard vocals and can be a little grating at times, but they're fairly infrequent, so it's not a huge issue. The clean production makes this no less heavy or dark, but those looking for basement black metal will be turned off by the polish present.

“The Acausal Fire” is a very fast and heavy album which should please fans of polished black death metal. While this is not an original album by any stretch of the imagination, Bane throws enough changes into the pace to keep things interesting. Like I mentioned, when the music borders on stagnation, Bane throws a curve ball and suck you right back in. Fast trem lines, fast blast beats and vicious vocals, with a few unexpected twists and turns: if that sounds good to you, then by all means check this out.

Written for The Metal Observer
http://www.metal-observer.com/

The first thing that struck me about The Acausal Fire, much like Bane's prior album Chaos, Darkness & Emptiness, is just how Scandinavian an approach they take to their atmospheric, semi-symphonic brand of deathly black metal. The majestic progressions present in their tremolo bursts are redolent of groups like Dissection, Dark Funeral, Marduk and Lord Belial, the vile dissonance of the eerier minor chords was pretty much the standard in the formative works of Norse and Swedish acts through the 90s and beyond, and they're not the sort to shy away from using higher, cleaner production standards than the primordial swamp of grime and wretchedness that inspired them.

However, despite its obvious level of competence and polish, I didn't take much away from their debut. A decent album, sure, but nothing to write home in blood about when there were hundreds of other, similar options through the prior two decades which had already marked out the territory. The Acausal Fire is a superior use of the band's arsenal in just about every department (save maybe the vocals). The Serbians have made better use of their twisting tremolo progressions, and loads of eloquent dual harmonies that create a necessary contrast against the gruesome dual guttural-rasp vocals. Needless to say, there are effortless blasts coursing beneath the rush of the guitars, and the band lean on the faster side of composition, but The Acausal Fire takes plenty of moments to breathe here, and the riff selections are in general far better than those of the prior album. Symphonic elements used in spots like the 'intro' and 'outro' are lavish, moody, orchestral and engrossing, while the gleaming melodies of tunes like "As Chaos Rises" will instantly settle themselves into your memory without much concentration.

Vocals are quite varied here, with the aforementioned grunts and rasps used throughout most of the metallic sequences, backed by excellent, cleaner choirs or the occasional surge into some salacious snarl not unlike you'd have heard from Ihsahn or Dani Filth in their primes. The mix is incredibly, almost surgically pristine, so those who want a lot of mud, reverb and noise in their black metal will not desire to slop from this trough, but personally I'm a fan of both sides of the coin, and have no problem with either when the music's good. And this music IS pretty damn good. Not perfect, surely not unique in the slightest, but very well executed black metal that furthers the Serbians and songwriters. The inclusion of the cover of Dissection's "Night's Blood" is a fitting bonus, not only because that's a great song, but because Bane knows exactly what to do with it; the Swedes were unmistakably one of this band's most fundamental influences. Apart from being brighter, though, it's hardly an unusual re-interpretation. But it doesn't need to be, because the rest of this album leading up to it is quite spectacular of its own right.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com