Mutilation Rites - Empyrean

There have been quite a few interesting black metal albums come out this year. Sure, the main ones like Burzum and Marduk have been in amongst it, but when a fresh one like Mutilation Rites comes along, it offers you something you don't quite know what you are in for. Their first album 'Empyrean' is quite an impressive one.

This is one of those black metal albums that commands the night. Pitch black, blistering speeds that can compete in any race with the winds, enough force in those riffs to make the stars burning in the night sky believe that the old school feel of black metal sits firmly with these guys. The thing is though, for all the old school feel Mutilation Rites show, they still throw enough variation in their riffs and tempos to place them in the modern feel of black metal also. Just listen to the way the songs transcend between pace and the way the riffs do different things unexpectedly. Walls of black noise that can twist. 

The way the riffs and tempos can gallop like a dark horse through a cold and lifeless forest. The way the tremolo riffs come in and blend in with the rhythmic ones. I haven't heard tremolo riffs feel this empowering in black metal in a long time. The way they come in out of no where in a song like 'Realms Of Dementia' or the subtle way they come into a song like 'Ancient Bloodoath' makes the songs twice as good as they already are. And the way 'Fogwarning' opens, the fog would be torn down the middle, or the way it becomes all disjointed and chaotic towards the end. A storm has just wiped out the entire forest.

The vocals of George Paul are so harsh, so torturous, evil. So crazy and psychotic. He makes the storm clouds turn black and cold as they smother and freeze the night sky. The blistering drumming is the rain and hail pelting down on the fields, forming puddles and mud so thick that eventually the dark horse will become stuck and will have no where to go, only to feel the rain and hail striking him and as it gives up on trying to escape as it is now bloody and bruised. The rain slows down as the drumming begins to hold back but still making as much chaotic noise as it can with the black riffs that ring out and trudge through the night. 'Broken Axis' signals the point where there is no chance of escaping. You are left to just wither away.

For all the USBM going around these days, as much as I enjoy them, Mutilation Rites feel like the only ones that truly embody the old black metal spirit. That's a big call, maybe a ridiculous one. But, for me, I don't think of the originals when I listen to other USBM bands. That can be a good thing though as it provides something different. But with 'Empyrean', Mutilation Rites has reminded me a lot of the originals here.

The difference between the stranded dark horse here and Mutilation Rites is that they will continue to gallop, possibly to bigger and greater heights. If they keep unleashing pitch black chaotic works such as this, they will. The cold night just added another soundtrack to its already impressive playlist.

Ikil