Ancestral Mysteries

In 2021 Kataxu made a very discreet comeback, which proves how overrated this artist is because basically nobody remembered him and nobody seemed to care that he spent 16 years in absolute silence. And against all expectations, Piąty surprisingly released his best work under this name to date.

I'm not sure why this Kataxu album works better than the previous ones, maybe it's because their approach is the most functional they've done, this being, by far, the most guitar driven album of the project, the keyboards are no longer the musical basis nor are they so intrusive, they are simply limited to reinforce the atmosphere in the most punchy moments. The compositions have also gained by being less ambitious and working on smaller parameters, focusing more on very defined and concrete aspects that help to make everything more accessible in general, as everything seems more cohesive. You could say that the style is no longer so bombastic and grandiloquent, subjectively the music has a more introspective feel to it, and it's thanks to that that the more subtle keyboards can work.

The production is quite amateurish, but rather than sounding kvlt and raw, it seems to be the result of limited resources, but I have to admit that this is far from affecting negatively the final result, in fact it adds sharpness to the outcome, making the guitars sound much more reverberant, where every riff feels like a real thunder, which also suits Piąty's vocal performance, sounding much rougher and deeper fitting (unconsciously perhaps) perfectly with the sound produced by the rest of the instrumentation.

One of the aspects that has been kept from the original essence of Kataxu is the way of ordering the songs, following a simple scheme of songinterludesong and so on. I have never been a big fan of this tendency by Piąty, or rather how he approached it, as it used to result in the synth sound having an excessive amount of minutes when this used to be the least interesting section musically speaking. But here, with the more straight forward style in the first half of the album this works incredibly well, "Beyond the Atlantean Gate" and "Our Lady of Oblivion" are two of the best songs Kataxu has done, its electric rhythm, its powerful drums, gives a magnificent sample of a potential that until now Kataxu had kept hidden, and with this performance of pure power on the one hand, causes that those interludes tracks of more atmospheric and relaxing mood fit much better. But this is ruined in the last segment of the album, "The Black Sun Shines" is an almost exclusively slow and atmospheric piece, focused on minimalistic aspects that progress in an articulate and inexorable way, it is not in itself a horrible song, but it drags for to long and the two breaks are insufficient and unbelievably short to make the overall feeling more dinamic. Plus the last few minutes of the track are exactly an outro that already sounds the same way these atmospheric interludes themselves, so the whole final segment feels artificially lengthened and doesn't really get there at all.

Not really knowing how to end the review, I just want to point out that an album of barely forty minutes has fifteen minutes of pure filler and yet it is the best album of the project, which says it all about the rest of their discography.

I've covered Kataxu earlier this year with their second and personal favorite album of theirs "Hunger of Elements". In 2021, the band would release their third and currently latest album "Ancestral Mysteries". Seeing how we're still in the review challenge and no one's covered this record yet, I figured I'd check it out and see how it's held up.

One interesting thing to note is that instrumental-wise, the album still continues what the previous album left off with some changes, as shown right from the first track "Beyond the Atlantean Gate". Compared to the previous album, the guitar riffs are given more focused, with some harsh, yet melodic riffs that power through the track. The synths still retain much of their high quality from Hunger of Elements, and though they have a more low-profile compared to the previous outing, still carry through the riffs with their spatial sounds. The drumming, however, does feel a bit weaker this time around, as while the blastbeats are powerful, their mixing is not perfect, and seem somewhat buried in the riffs and synths. Even the bass play is pretty average, and nothing to write home about with how bland it is. Nevertheless, the strength of the guitars and keyboards are enough to carry through much of the album, especially in the track "Our Lady of Oblivion" with the well-established epic atmosphere and the melodic riffs. The ambient interludes such as "The Last Whisper" and "The Polar Feast" are also pretty good, though I still think the interludes in the previous album is a bit better. With a cleaner production and more focus on the riffs, Ancestral Mysteries does a pretty good job on maintaining most of what Hunger of Elements worked, even if there are some flaws.

The vocals, however, are pretty weak. The vocals Piąty did on the previous album was phenomenal, but here, not so much. Piąty utilizes some harsh growls and screams compared to the shrieks he did on the previous album. And though they aren't completely terrible, they seem out of place given the symphonic elements. A good example of this is in the track "The Black Sun Shines", which is suppose to be a brilliant closure to the album, but the growls sound off-putting when stacked up with the guitars and synths, and I feel as though the vocals would be a lot better had Piąty added some shrieks. Plus, on the more softer part of the track, Piąty speaks in this terrible whispering voice that sounds like he's sick, and not the good kind either. It could be the case of Piąty getting older, but the new vocal performance he did on this album is not cutting it.

On the plus side, though, the lyrics are still good. The themes of space and paganism is prevalent in the lyrics, and are still well written. In the track "Our Lady of Oblivion" for instance, this verse quotes:

Last night I have dreamt of the tower again
I have stood on its top, and watch the clouds
Rolling up the hills
The tidal wave of darkness swallowing the city below
The air smelt of decay and tears

I heard her voice again, singing to me in my dream
The queen of the night, my sweetest lady of the eclipse
Her heralds are ever present at the base of the tower
Can you hear the teeth gnashing? The gurgling sound of gluttony?

Here, Piąty recounts dreaming of being in a familiar tower before seeing the queen of the eclipse. Much like with the previous album, the lyrics still go for the romantic style of songwriting that describes the events in a more introspective light, though I believe the lyrics have matured quite a bit since their last outing, given how subtle and lukewarm the story is. Plus, the lyrics work decently well with the instrumentals, as the grand atmosphere is fitting with the story, though the growling doesn't quite capture these feelings perfectly. Overall, the songwriting still remains as strong as ever, and is still fitting with the symphonic elements.

Even though this isn't quite as fantastic as Hunger of Elements given the weaker instruments and vocals, I still think there is plenty to enjoy with this album. The guitars and synths still sound great as ever, and the lyrics still offer some great retelling of space and pagans. If you haven't listened to this album yet, then I would highly recommend checking out for yourself.