Epigrammata

The ancient Greeks have been a massive source of influence in the world for millennia in every single way that you could ever think of. Their unique sense of immortality is as strong as ever today, and it even permeates the world of metal. While few groups have come to exonerate the Romans like Ex Deo and Ade, it’s bands like Et Moriemur that honor those that came before the Romans. For their latest effort, Et Moriemur puts together a terrific display of power and tantalizing musicianship.

There have been many, many bands throughout the history of metal that have tried to bring together multiple different styles in order to create one cohesive experience, but few have managed to pull it off successfully. Et Moriemur is the latest band to achieve such a feat as “Epigrammata” is an intimidating yet very well crafted album that somehow combines doom, death, and black metal all into one record while even throwing in some atmospheric elements for good measure. That’s a fucking lot to deal with right there, but Et Moriemur pulls it off wondrously while executing a Greek theme at the same damn time. Right from the get-go, “Epigrammata” starts off on a dramatic note to only rise to the occasion with a full onslaught of extreme metal that not many bands can muster successfully and still retain an inherent sense of potency in their music. Yet, Et Moriemur excels as this wondrous piece shows that the already established musicians of this group know what they’re doing, but they’re still expanding their scope as “Epigrammata” takes a little from a lot. This album effortlessly dives in an out of grand melodies, terrible sieges upon the ears with a blazing front of domination, a crushing energy that demolishes all in its path, and terrific pacing that not only ensures that “Epigrammata” is a satisfying time, but also shows the overall brilliance of Et Moriemur in the proper amounts. The experience as a whole shows the devastating force that’s behind Et Moriemur, and I’ve no doubt that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

New bands are a gambit when it comes to quality and they always will be, but when it comes to Et Moriemur the only thing we need to worry about is how long we have to wait for another follow-up album. Every single bit of “Epigrammata” is a grand tale from ancient times that live in this modern world. In so many ways, Et Moriemur brings the dead back to life in ways that very few bands can manage in any capacity, but it’s done amazingly well here.

Transcending Obscurity Records is probably my new favorite extreme metal record label today. I mean, who would not love these fellas who, in the past months, had consecutively released solid albums from acts like Arallu, Arkheth, and Greytomb. Perhaps we can all agree that this India-based record label really knows how to look for good talented bands out there in the vast land of the extreme music territory.

Today I will talk about another great album crafted by a band from the roster of Transcending Obscurity, a band who hails from Czech Republic‘s capital city, a death/doom metal quartet called Et Moriemur. Et Moriemur had been around for ten years releasing their brand of sinister and stirring death/doom music in the underground. This year the band had unleashed their third full-length offering named “Epigrammata” last March 20th and, as one of the writers of Il Pozzo dei Dannati or The Pit of the Damned, I am one of the lucky ones who had the chance to gain advance access to this obliterating magnum opus before it was released. Oh, the perks of having your email included in a record labels promo list.

Fellow extreme music enthusiasts, “Epigrammata” is an album that holds ten tracks of intensely bewitching dark and evocative extreme metal which not only displays the terrific heaviness of death metal and utter power of doom metal but also lays out the macabre nature of black metal music. Each instrument and element in this offering is perfectly knitted into one fine output. From the magnificent utilization of the piano, acoustic guitars, and other orchestral instrumentations; to the exemplary implementation of the elements of funeral doom and skillful manipulation of disturbing black metal soupçons, every section of “Epigrammata” discloses to its listeners the epic and tragic visions of what Et Moriemur‘s music is all about.

The riffs found in this opus generates a substantial amount of dark sounding melodies which are extremely entrancing, as the whole thing just brilliantly conjures that atmospheric feature of the material. Thick layered bass lines also aid a lot in stirring up that funeral-esque undercurrent and the slow beefy drumming, along with the orchestral instrumentations, helps set that Greek Dark Ages aura in the album that we usually would hear from movies and documentaries dealing with ancient Greek history.

In the vocal department we hear a lot of death metal growls, while in times the frontman throws in some grim black metal howls, accompanied by a choir of consuming Gregorian chanting behind the main object of contemplation. These vocal passages, along with the band’s operatic flair, also helps in embellishing the overall beguiling ambiance of the offering and it compliments what Et Moriemur wants to achieve in “Epigrammata“.

The album’s production is of a much higher quality, but not overdone and it does not erode the record’s essence, than usual materials under the genre. Every instrument in “Epigrammata” is quite clear and distinct sounding. This type of production actually pulls the listeners’ closer towards the intrinsic nature of the group’s music, and it impels the instruments to sound immense which makes the atmosphere of the opus much heavier.

After more than fifty minutes of listening to this magnum opus, I found myself physically drained as the whole experience took me to an otherworldly realm which sucked all the energy I possessed due to its dim and dismal ethos. Other than that, “Epigrammata” had also accomplished its aim and purpose of pondering the epic and tragic tales of the ancient civilizations that had existed before this modern society of ours.

I am very certain that all my fellow extreme music enthusiasts out there now know where Et Moriemur stands in the death/doom genre with the release of this pièce de résistance. I highly recommend this album to every metal fan out there. This is a must own opus! The people behind Transcending Obscurity Records sure knows what they are doing signing talented groups such as Et Moriemur.

Originally written for https://thepitofthedamned.blogspot.com