ORCUSTUS - Orcustus (WTC - LP 2012)
Once in a while the Norwegians come up with an
album, which immediately is putted into the category of the best and most
inspiring black metal LPs of the present times. Obviously there’s still the
unrivalled mightiness of “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” floating over everything,
but throughout the later years there were at least dozen of albums, which were
not much behind and which are defining what the Norsk Black Metal Art is about.
The last decade hasn’t really came up with so many albums of this kind as there
were in the early to mid 90’s, but still I can guarantee that such LPs as
“Liberation”, “Over Bjoergvin Graater Himmerik”, “Hordalands Doedskvad”, “Through
Thick Fog Till Death” plus few others, which I have forgotten about now are
worth being mentioned here. And here is another album, which I dare to say must
be remembered and get all the deserved honours. At the same time the debut LP
of Orcustus was probably one of the most anticipated albums of the recent
times. I mean the couple of EPs, which Orcustus has unleashed in the mid 00’s
were very promising, but it is also the line up a major factor for high
expectations for “Orcustus”. Featuring Taipan, but most notably Dirge Rep
(Gehenna, Enslaved to name the most important bands he played in) as well as
Infernus and Tormentor from Gorgoroth it must have promised something
exceptional. And for me personally “Orcustus” is exactly like that.
Music wise “Orcustus” offers pure, traditional
black metal in the Norwegian vein. While listening to this LP quite few
Norwegian bands pop into my mind, what may mean that the music is not the most
original of all out there, but I don’t care about that, especially as I think that
the quality of this black metal is better than in the 99% of the current black
metal albums and that this music really awaken the proper feelings.
For the bands, which I can compare Orcustus to,
I would mention Mayhem from “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”, Taake, Gorgoroth
(“Antichrist” era), Urgehal, 1349… For example the opening track “Coil” evokes
a strong feeling of resemblance to Taake’s style, with this characteristic type
of riffing, combined with exceptional fury and aggression, at the same time
focusing on creating specific atmosphere of something cold and inhuman. It’s a
killer opener, which puts me in the correct mood straight away, as the same
time forcing to bang the head and scream in frenzy. And the following tracks
just follow this same direction, delivering even more bestiality, hatred and
wrath. The fast pace is definitely dominant (“Coil”, “Death and Dissolution”),
but there are also more mid paced oriented tracks like “Of Sophistry, Obsession
and Paranoia” or “Jesus Christ Patricide” (the best song from the whole LP?).
And however Orcustus would play, it all works… with this sort of riffing, plus
with the raspy vocals of Taipan and blasting drumming of Dirge Rep, the album
never fails and is like a constant avalanche of sound. There’s also really
great production, I do must admit I like the sound a lot, especially the drums
sound awesome. Altogether it feels like someone picked up the parts of the best
Norwegian bands and albums, which I have mentioned above and glued them all
together into one lethal piece on “Orcustus”. The whole material is also
incredibly even, there isn’t a song, which would really go above the rest and
maybe that’s a minor fault of “Orcustus”, but from the other hand there’re no
fillers or weak parts neither, so who would care about that? If I mention some
of the songs below as the standouts then it’s just due to some excellent riffs,
which really hit me and left unconscious. Note though that I mention four
tracks there and the whole album has seven tracks hehe! That must say a lot, I
guess.
Oh, hold on… you must know that ”the purpose of
your existence is to make others laugh when you die…”. Beware then! Excellent
album. It finally got released on vinyl in 2012, by W.T.C. and I must admit it
is really well packaged vinyl and the whole layout equals the excellent
releases from NOEVDIA. “Orcustus” comes in the gatefold sleeve, with an insert
for the record with the entire album info and band photo, plus there’s 8 page
booklet, with all the lyrics and additional graphics and photography (which
differ from those from the CD version, where the booklet had photos of the dead
people all over it). It’s really worth getting, if you’re a vinyl collector
plus a black metal maniac, trust me. It definitely is a great addition to my
own collection.
Standout tracks: “Coil”, “Of Sophistry,
Obsession and Paranoia”, “Jesus Christ Patricide”, “Death and Dissolution”
Final rate: 90/100
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