What Befalls of Tainted Souls

The Netherlands have a long running tradition of producing excellent black and death metal. One of the newest outfits to rise from the depths are Codex Mortis from Utrecht. While their full length debut “What Befalls of Tainted Souls” is their first official effort the four gentlemen have all gathered quite a bit of experience in other bands like Bloodphemy or Bodyfarm. While all of them have more of a death metal background Codex Mortis offers mainly pretty traditional black metal, although there are some death metal influences as well as a certain dissonant vibe and some more unorthodox patterns, making this album a really interesting piece of sonic assault.

Using a somewhat more progressive and diverse palette of sounds as enhancement to classic second wave fare is what makes the music of Codex Mortis accessible yet interesting enough to verify several spins. There is no lack of willingness to throw in some more complex arrangements or new ideas, yet there is a sincere and strong presence that makes it clear where the band’s heart lies, meaning that they honor the past of the genre while thinking a bit outside of the box. This helps them to not fall into the trap of becoming repetitive or dull pretty fast. Don’t get me wrong, I like the rawer and stripped back nature of the genre as well, but it is nice to see young bands pushing the boundaries a bit without leaving the roots.

The biggest strength of Codex Mortis is the seemingly effortless combination of heaviness and ambience, evident nearly everywhere on the album. The roaring, relentless opening track “Avernus” is fast and furious, slightly technical yet straight into the listener’s face at the same time. That being said this is far from blunt brutality, the track seeming to seethe with rage as it progresses and the snarling and growling vocals working as additional instrument to get the blood pumping. This album has a dense wall of sound that uses modern production values to help the listener appreciate the whirlwind guitar riffs and slow melodic lead accompaniment used here. Codex Mortis are using dense, high-speed tremolo-riffing and occasional ritualistic passages as well as some sinister and obscure lead guitar melodies sprinkled all over the tracks.

A perfect juxtaposition of the chaotic and the calm, the found and the created, the constant and moving is what Codex Mortis deliver on their debut album, while providing very stringent songwriting skills. It is always difficult to define what “good songwriting” means, as everybody might have his own opinion, and what is considered thrilling and competent by one might be classified as bland or badly structured by the next person. I have to admit that it took me more than one listen to really appreciate this album in its entirety, as some of the harmonies need a bit of time to unfold their magic. However, I found myself coming back to the album as a whole and to certain songs like the mentioned title track or others like e.g. “Nine-headed Mare” with its nightmarish lead harmonies.

Packing a tight punch with a huge production and monstrous instrumental performances underline Codex Mortis’ ambition to get a place among the genre’s elite. I would not call “What Befalls of Tainted Souls” a work of reference, but in my books this album might get a place in my personal top 10 at the end of the year. In case you are looking for another competently played and tightly produced modern black metal record you could do a lot worse than checking out this one.