Mystic Evilution

Ipsum is one of those many bands you’ll probably never hear about until you’ll pick a recording from them on the dusty rear shelves of some forgotten store thinking while it’s likely to be poor, at least it’s cheap. Why did I draw this one indeed? The cover had been seen a thousand times before. The title was stupid. The two girls playing on it didn’t look especially attractive. But you know what? It had a song about alchemy.

Indeed as far as the songwriting is concerned, Mystic Evilution (sic) proved to be a good catch. It carries its good deal of cold, haunting black metal riffs, which even if they aren’t of the most stunning originality nonetheless hit their target well. Songs are overall mid-paced, but most of them feature slower parts with an undeniable doom vibe. Granted, each number doesn’t sound that different from its neighbour and, would have the album been longer, it would have appeared a bit too formulaic, but clocking at only forty minutes it amounts to a rather pleasant piece of melodic black metal with a genuinely chilling, slightly eerie atmosphere. The only weak track would be the overlong My End, dragging on forever without offering anything new – must be some irony from the band I guess, that a song about SUICIDE just never seems to end.

The production clearly sets the emphasis on the guitars and it was the wisest possible choice, given they’re what really keeps the work on track. Every instrument can be heard though, bass included, and the overall sound is surprisingly clean in its sheer simplicity. No keyboard, no overdub, no sound effects. So, what could possibly be wrong? The lyrics may mostly consist in clichéd satanic themes, however they’re written in an overall clever fashion (though a title like “New Model Inferno” might be gently laughable). The drumming is a bit too generic and a tad disappointing for a serious black metal act but that’s a minor complaint. The guy knows his job; it’s just some extra variation would be appreciated. In fact, the only thing that really prevents me from giving this work a higher score is the vocals.

Of course, it could have been worse. With the usual prejudice against female vocalists some pop-mallgoth singing was first to be feared, but now I even wonder if I wouldn’t have preferred that to what is featured here. Yes, I’m an ardent defender of harsh female vocals, placing a singer like Masha Arhipova of Arkona fame above a good ninety percent of her male counterparts, and definitely think more bands should make use of them – provided the singer shows, of course, a minimal amount of talent. This last point is what’s debatable here, as the girl most of time sounds like an asthmatic desperately struggling to find her breath again. No power. No variation. No feeling. A linear succession of raucous clearings of throat from some hoarse parrot is all it evokes, saved the parrot would still be higher-pitched. Yes, this would be laughable if it wasn’t pitiful, all the more totally instrumental moments are rare so it’s hardly conceivable to ignore the vocal slaughter, though I’ll admit it becomes far more supportable after a couple of listens.

Alright, I was sure an album featuring a song about alchemy (I was referring to the sixth track, by the way) couldn’t be completely wrong. Chemistry is metal, but I’ll prove it another day.

Highlights: New Model Inferno, The Last of Gethsemane