Maledictus Dies Illa

The soulful and strong work “Maledictus Dies Illa” by Written in Torment from North Yorkshire, which began in 2003 as a one-man band, became the third full-length album in the discography of the project. Quite a technical instrumental part with an abundance of guitar solos, tapping, thoughtful bass and drum parts, spiced up with emotional hysterical scream-harsh. Already the first composition meets the listener with a furious wave of chaos, tuning in a certain way. And it is rather difficult to assume that the album ahead will change its course many times in terms of atmosphere, mood and even stylistics.

The release is replete with interesting melodies, varied atmosphere and catchy riffs. It is replete with enchanting acoustic inserts and technical solos, typical not so much for black metal as for heavy metal. In some places, perhaps thanks to the epic keyboard background and choirs, echoes of not only atmospheric black metal, but also viking are heard. The melody of the album and the Nordic sound make you fall in love once and for all.

During listening, there is no desire to switch songs. They are so varied in mood, structure, pace and general atmosphere that it is even confusing. "Maledictus Dies Illa" resembles a chessboard with alternating squares: white, black, white, black. Check it out for yourself. With pinpoint accuracy, vigorous action films with sound production in the best traditions of the classics alternate with almost lyrical mid-tempo melodic songs. It is difficult to single out the top composition. Connoisseurs of old fierce material will love "Old Gods of the North", "Unchain Your Mind", "Descent". For connoisseurs of atmospheric epic and melodic - the rest. As for me, the eponymous "Maledictus Dies Illa" and "Despair" completing our 40-minute journey are especially good.

Good work with drum parts (of course, from an ex-member of such projects as Bal-Sagoth and My Dying Bride), lyrics, pleasant work with the sound in general. Enchanting acoustic sounds immerse you in magical euphoria and, oddly enough, generate kind and light inspiration. Speaking of sound, the drummer of the Dan “Storm” Mullins project also worked at the legendary Academy Studios.

Nice nostalgic cover art from Croatian artist Andrej Bartulović perfectly complements the picture and takes us to the wonderful “dark medieval” times several decades ago, when cult things were born. My heart skipped a beat, didn't it? Who knows, if this album Written in Torment had been recorded in the 90s, then it is quite possible that it would have already flaunted on the shelves of connoisseurs of the genre. But everything is still ahead.

When it already seems that after endless hours of listening, there is little music that can surprise, and especially such an all-encompassing genre, it is very useful to stumble upon such material.

Yorkshire’s Written in Torment return with their LP this year with another slab of aggressive yet melodic black metal. The foundation of this music is riff heavy black metal that focuses on the interplay of tremolo picked guitars with slower mid-paced segments, accented by some subtle keyboards tracks in the background. Musically, this is closet to the melodic school of a Vinterland or a Kvist, although with a greater sense of drama, and repeated references to classic heavy metal in the soloing. This last point is rather surprising…in that it is instantly noticeable…and yet it works. The solos are both more intricate than is typical of this style of black metal yet also more pronounced in the mix.

The danger with this frantic style of melodic black metal is in simply overwhelming the listener with ideas. One can become too eager to throw every single flourish and technique into the music and play it at a breakneck pace, resulting in a cacophony of sound that – for the listener- they may simply switch off to. In this regard Written in Torment have shown more restraint than many of their peers by offsetting the faster passages with the slow, along with interesting use of dynamics, and throwing in some atypical influences for black metal. For instance the opening refrain of ‘Unchain Your Mind’ which makes use of harmonic minor (Nile anyone?). Of course, such things have been tried before in black metal, and often the result is a schizophrenic hot mess (post 2000 Enslaved). But on ‘Maledictus Dies Illa’ all these disparate techniques and influences have been brought under the rigorous discipline of the final vision.

Vocals are a passionate (and very human) half clean shout, much more human than the high-pitched shrieking we are used to within black metal. This is mixed with many cleanly sung segments along the lines of Taake or early Ulver. This – combined with the vocals being front and centre in the mix – gives them a central role to play within the music, elevating the drama at times, calming things down at others. Which brings us screaming round to the drums: the uncelebrated workhorse of black metal. Of course for this busy take on the style the drums are more intricate than a simple wash of blast-beats…and this is no exception. Their role in accenting the transitions from one riff to the next is perfectly played out here. They provide an energy to the foundation of this music without overbearing the other instruments. The dexterity of their execution is used to bolster up the music as opposed to acting as an end in itself.

All in all a delicate balancing act of ideas vs. execution. There’s no shortage of the former, but all are brought to heal by the latter. ‘Maledictus Dies Illa’ achieves that rare thing in metal: it smuggles a commitment to musicianship and knowledge into the final work without the listener necessarily noticing. This, for example, is the exact opposite of prog metal, which does both these things but sure as well wants the listener to notice the weird scales and odd time signatures being utilised at any given time. But I digress, MDI is a refreshing take on a form of black metal that I was beginning to write off as a spent genre.

Originally published at Hate Meditations