Regnum Saturni

With "Regnum Saturni", their third album, Fell Voices move into more flowing and abstract black metal noise territory. Paradoxically perhaps, this is the first album of theirs that is not simply named after the band or left untitled; additionally, the songs now also bear titles which together suggest a theme of transformation from a lower level of existence to a higher one. Listeners may well be divided over this release: whereas previous releases had definite melodies and riffs, this album may come across as unstructured and intangible, and the music appears deliberately difficult and remote.

All three tracks are long and on the double LP version each takes up one side of the record. This means that Side D contains nothing at all. (One would think at least it might have an interesting recording of forest bird and insect noises.) The first track "Flesh from Bone" tiptoes in quietly and suddenly plunges listeners into a roaring whirlwind of sharp guitar noise which pulses with a grinding chainsaw rhythm all its own. Vocals can barely be heard unless they are wailing or screeching in agony. Yet the music isn't an endless self-indulgent exercise in black metal noise drone and chaos; there is change from noise and anguish to passages of stillness and solitude, dark though they are. However such interludes are soon swept aside by more scourging music from which lead guitar riffs might arise and glimmer briefly before they are engulfed in the fierce storms.

We segue into the second track "Emergence" from the first with the faintest of breaks but the mood and energy level remaining low and restrained. Again we are tossed into a long extended black metal noise drone world, one featuring a wavering feedback drone and constant repetitive drumming. The effect can be very hypnotic even though the mood is far from serene: in fact it's aggressive and hostile. Voices scream in pain and torment continuously, guitars wobble as if sharpening their strings and the percussion continues its banging rhythm without rest. This time there's no let-up, no rest from the torture. Towards the end, the percussion becomes more thunderous and emphatic, voices still scream and the heaving guitars hang over the track.

"Dawn" is a powerful thundering track of attacking percussion and denser than ever clouds of black metal guitar. Whining guitar drone, rousing drums, more howling and screaming voices and that ever-present boiling guitar noise atmosphere all fill your brain from end to end. This is a highly suffocating experience. Although the music overall doesn't stray from the very straight and very narrow, there's enough variation in its details to keep some, if not most, listeners tagging along. The best moments come in the last few minutes of the track: the drumming consists of thunderous rolls, the screaming becomes unearthly and the shuddering guitars assume a quieter air as gradually the track loses its pent-up fury.

The album can be an exhausting experience to hear all the way through and perhaps there was no need for it to be so long at 61 minutes. The introductions and codas don't need to be as long as they are, since they are joined up and have only the slightest of breaks. What is most impressive about this work is its raging intensity and the musicians' utmost dedication to their craft. They obviously don't care about pandering to all their fans' preferences; the music is relentlessly single-minded and its scope is very narrow. The band that springs to mind as a point of comparison is Nadja whose music in the past has been similarly noisy, intense and powerful if unvarying.

While I like this album I can see it enjoying only limited success among Fell Voices' fans. It seems destined for cult status which would seem more fitting for a recording of its intensity and power.