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Veneficum is an American act attempting to tie together the wildness of black metal ala Emperor, Old Dimmu Borgir, Anorexia Nervosa and Abyssos, with the fatal spasms of black metal tremolo picking. They succeed in devising this, not because it's unnaturally complicated, but due to their remarkable capability to layer a number of bent, unexpected tunes into the rhythms that add an essential inclination to their cloudy domain.
A formidable skull lards the packaging of this Album, from the decayed teeth that sets in the corner of the cover to the mystical track titles, and it formulates an instantaneous sense of despotism, of having submerged so deep shapeless past where there is no escape but to bewilder at the abyss in all of its transcendental mystery. The music of this American black metal group is motoring the grim melodies firsthand to your obscure imagination.
"In Tranquil Absurd" is the band's second full-length album, and a pretty aboveboard and straightforward, fierce and grim melodic black metal release of the faster variety. Truth be told, there are not many fibers in the sound of this particular release, in comparison to some of the American black metal efforts. This is your good, rigid-but not-distressful-to-the-ears production. The band is quite savage in their fulfillment, tracks like "In Tranquil Absurd" and "Paradox Breed" show the straightforward, raw roughness at their melodic command. Seldom do they let up from their roaring rendering, and if so it's usually for a brief Keyboards delivery like the intro to "Desire Design", or a brief acoustic parts like in the outro of "Endurance Of Aeons" .
This album is moderately well composed, with a hazy, nebulous tone to the guitars which benefits the modulation in the riffing, from dim, sluggish splendor to a lukewarm, subdued onslaught of more idiomatic melodic black fare. In particular I recommend the excellent song "Desire Design".
Overall, In Tranquil Absurd is a listenable and quite promising black metal record, with many standout riffs and tunes here and there. However, if you are in the mood for some roaring, tearing American black metal then this would likely satisfy you.
Recommended tracks :
Desire Design, Despair Mechanism, In Return
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