Black Command

A veritable embarrassment of riches greets the ear on the latest album from Yorkshire black metallist Written in Torment. ‘Black Command’ both falls in line with the broad approach this artist has taken to date yet also amplifies every aspect to breaking point. The speed, heightened melodrama, strained aggression, the reaches for sorrow, rage, melancholia and revelry are all at fever pitch to the point where one hardly knows what to do with all this surplus information.

Whilst the formula could broadly be cast as melodic black metal, with hints of Dawn or Vinterland sitting in the background, Written in Torment work in the fantastical aspirations of symphonic variants to temper the wanton aggression of the vocals, which are joined by no small dose of folk flourishes and acoustic instrumentation along the way. Any attempt to balance each element so as to give the broadest thematic and emotive offering possible seems to have been jettisoned in favour of delivering every piece of information simultaneously.

The strained passion and shredded treatment of its very human themes threaten to make ‘Black Command’ a highly taxing affair. But what is perhaps most surprising is the fact that the music remains broadly digestible, engaging even. Although undeniably sitting on the riff-laden side of the genre over the atmospheric, the over excited rhythmic offering that compresses endlessly busy fills adjacent to the blast-beats are tempered by the swelling symphonics that adopt a minimalist yet undeniably longform philosophy to supplement the over excited melodic tangents of the guitars.

Black metal vocalists that buck the trend of ghastly high-end screeching are not automatically worthy of praise. And whilst the strained intensity of Leviathan’s mid-range crooning has its place (in hardcore maybe), the ensuing monotony strips away all emotive context, and thus the album’s momentum as a work of taut conflict. Even the slower moments are so packed with information that they remain in danger of becoming utterly bloated.

But just as ‘Black Command’ threatens to be a victim of its own success, it washes out the intensity in favour of distinctive lyrical guitar lines and deadpan clean vocals across the central motifs of ‘Mors Ultima’ and the title track, which work out finales so laboured and poignant that one can hardly believe that they fall only at the midpoint of the album.

But the break in speed is a welcome one. In relegating atmosphere to serve as mere incidental supplementary material to the riffcraft, Written in Torment seem to be shooting for a more direct rendering of black metal rife with activity and tension. But in order to make a success of this, one must compensate for the lack of frigid fixity of presentation with musicality that delivers more than base tension and blistering speed thrills. Any room to breathe therefore, especially one that works in exercises in dynamics and thematic development, is a welcome contrast.

‘Black Command’ is therefore a troubled beast. Succeeding on its own terms as a materialistically dense piece of music. But objectively it is a weighty, full fat, five course meal with brandy when compared to the elegant buffets and craft lagers of more laid-back affairs. Appropriate for certain occasions, but paradoxically limiting given the sheer density of its sonic landscape.

Originally published at Hate Meditations