Deinde Signum Mortifera

Truly occult black metal can be a challenging section of the genre to listen to and become immersed in. Given the little information surrounding bands such as this obscure Finnish one, named Vritra, there really isn’t much to get excited about upon initial inspections. The titles of the songs however, which are all called “hymns”, reminded me of Ulver’s earlier works. The only comparison to be made after that is to the lo-fi production used by both bands on both albums. This debut full-length, entitled ‘Deinde Signum Mortifera’, is a really disheartening start to the bands career as it doesn’t offer much in the way of solid musicianship, worthy song writing or even decent riffs. Much like the rest of the bands image, which comes under the occult description again, the music is a semblance of bare-bones riffs, often lacking in fluidity and melody, and atmospherics which fail to deliver the type of structure to the songs that the Finnish band is going for.

I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if this turned out to be a one man band, formed by a young and inexperienced soul who is looking to make his mark upon the industry like those did during the second wave. I imagine the idea behind this band, as well as this album, is to keep the flame of the second wave burning brightly for all the old-school fans to jump on board with. This just feels too easy a trick to apply to the music. Make it repetitive, make it monotonous and give it that occult feeling found in the earliest bands and surely that should be enough to win over the old timers biding their time for a return to the past, the good old days. I’m afraid that, whilst there are some fairly decent melodies here and there, this album is a flailing piece of work, grasping onto anything it can to make it more individualistic than it is. Looking at the break down in instrumentation on songs like ‘Hymn II - Deinde Signum Mortifera’, where the song eventually descends into sloppy chaos with repetitive drums, barely functional blast beats and lacklustre riffs.

Of course, each song contains its very own simplistic side whereby cleaner aspects of instrumentation come out to play, as on the previously aforementioned song, but these offer no emotion, or intensity to the atmosphere. The lo-fi, under-produced feel to the album in general is a constant hindrance. During the second wave, these types of production values were used to intensify the already cold and callous instrumentation but, here, the production is being used to mask over the fact that the instrumentation lacks all those qualities which made albums like ‘Transilvanian Hunger’ such an inspiration. The vocals are poor. They’re not forceful enough and feel too slow, though the instrumentation makes a habit of becoming very slow moving, which forces a lull in the already desperate atmospherics. The approach is very negative and not in terms of the emotional range of the album. It lives so relentlessly in the old days and songs like ‘Hymn II - Deinde Signum Mortifera’ clings on to its playing time. At eight minutes, the song is far too long. It should have been four, tops.

At eight minutes the instrumentation flirts with stopping, then it starts again and the cycle continues for eight long, arduous minutes of tedium and desperation. This isn’t just a feature of this song alone, but all songs! It doesn’t know when is best to stop, when is best to take a break from an unrelenting stylistic approach of riffs and blast beats. The direction lacks fluidity and sustains that rigid sound throughout the duration of the album. Each song, like the aesthetic side to the band, has no charm and no way of holding the attention of the listener. Instead of being creative, the band use a FIVE MINUTE LONG instrumental song in the form of ‘Hymn III - Das Schwarze Nest’ which goes nowhere and enhances nothing. This is a pitiful excuse for an instrumental, too. It doesn’t deviate from the rest of the material. It isn’t a shining light, or a saving grace. This album is a pointless dedication to the occult and old school black metal. There are no redeeming features.