Maledictus

Being a massive Moonspell fan, I was very curious to check out what long-time Moonspell drummer Mike Gaspar was up to with his new band Seventh Storm, which early this year released their debut LP Maledictus. The internet was brimming with the most disparate set of comparisons, from Bathory to Cradle of Filth, to Disturbed, to Van Halen, which piqued my interest even more. I finally had time to give the album a few listens and my reaction is … underwhelmed.

There’s a number of things that rub me the wrong way in this record. Let’s start with the comparisons mentioned above. It’s true, you can hear snippets of all those influences, although at its core Maledictus is a fundamentally a cross between groove metal and melancholic hard rock. The riffs are big, chunky and groovy, frequently complemented by catchy melodic phrases played by the lead guitar, and by rich symphonic arrangements. Gaspar’s drumming is urgent and relentless: he truly goes wild here with all sort of fills, double bass runs and cymbal work, probably like never before while he was playing with Moonspell. Layered on top of this busy, highly textured musical background, singer Rex delivers his overwrought, anthemic vocal lines in a style that reminds me of a strange mix between Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Matt Barlow (ex-Iced Earth) and Russell Allen (Symphony X). In most songs there are also sudden black metal interjections, with blasting drums and fast tremolo picking guitars, which explains the references to Bathory and Cradle of Filth. Frankly, these sudden bursts of black metal often feel unnecessary and come a bit out of nowhere, and I am left wondering whether at some point any of the musicians took a step back to think whether this sort of “everything but the kitchen sink” approach was actually working.

The description above may give away another problem I have with this LP. I cannot shake off the impression that Seventh Storm are trying too hard to impress the listener. There is simply too much going on in the music: too many disparate influences that do not give the album a clear direction, and too much relentless sonic assault that ultimately fails to generate that progression of tension and release that I find essential to make a piece of music interesting. Instead, most of the songs here have the shape and consistency of a brick: flat intensity and volume from start to finish, with very little exceptions. You get tired of it pretty fast, and considering that the LP clocks in at nearly 1 hour, that’s a major problem. I also felt that there is not sufficient variation across the album’s 9 tracks to make for a compelling listen. Things mellow down a little bit mid-flight (“Inferno Rising”, “Seventh”), but most songs are cut from a similar cloth and convey similar moods and emotions to the listener.

Despite these misgivings, Maledictus offers a handful of redeeming quality. The band’s performance is pretty solid: Gaspar stands out for his (over)exuberant drumming, but singer Rex is also quite impressive, as he belts and roars convincingly in most occasions. The riffs and grooves sure made my foot tap and my head nod, as the album worked OK as background music that does not require much active listening. And then there is “Saudade”, which is actually a cool song, with a good refrain and a suitably melancholic but epic atmosphere that makes an impression already on first listen. There are actually 4 versions of “Saudade” on my CD (electric and acoustic, in both English and Portuguese), which may be a bit overkill, if you ask me – but “overkill” seems to be a recurring theme with this album, after all.

Overall, although Maledictus did not quite get my juices flow, I suspect this largely comes down to personal tastes. I am a peak-&-valley kind of guy, who wants plenty of dynamics in his music, and favors melody over sheer aggression. Maledictus hits heavy and hard, relentlessly. I bet that readers whose preferences are the mirror image of mine are going to dig this much more.