Ignominia - Ars Moriendi

IGNOMINIA - Ard Moriendi (FALLEN TEMPLE - CD 2019)

Chile this time. And some of you may remember how much I like death metal scene from there. Many great bands there, many killer albums, all brutal and with that obscure, devilish South American aura, which is a huge bonus. I never had a chance to hear about Ignominia before, but already the fact of their origin is enough to raise my interest. And what we have here is a join release of two Ignominia recordings: "Ars Moriendi" album and "Falsa divinidad" EP. Cool, I would think, but after few spins of this CD I have to say that I feel disappointed. Not that Ignominia is worthless or something, but certainly they did not meet my expectations. 

One thing I can admit as a positive aspect of their music is that old feeling of it, like from the early death metal South American recordings, if you still remember some of these legendary bands. At the same time I think there's similarity to newer acts such as Thornafire, especially speaking of that dark, evil death metal atmosphere. But the problem with "Ars Moriendi" is that it's just damn boring. I'm not even so sure where the biggest problem lies. Is it the flat production, which lacks the powerful death metal aspect so much? Maybe. Limited ideas and arrangements sometimes? These songs really do sound alike eachother a lot. And I definitely can say that I don't remember when was the last time I heard such weak guitar leads. They're really awful. Also vocals could have been more bestial, more vicious and savage. 

Anyway, the first part of the CD is the better one. The first song for example, "Invocación al abismo oculto", is a highlight here for me. It's quite fast, aggressive; it kind of evolves from an acoustic guitar clean tone intro, through first part, which is pretty slow paced and then it brings fire, with much faster and more brutal force. I like it that way. Following few tracks also have some great riffs, some interesting fragments... but they would all work better if everything just sounded more powerful and crushing. And with "Falsa divinidad" EP I'm already quite bored, because I feel like they keep repeating the same ideas all over again, songs are so similar that I'm lost there. It would be enough for me to have just “Ars Moriendi” on this CD, to be fair. Don't get me wrong, Ignominia are a solid band, this CD is OK, some of you may like it, but it just failed to really impress me. 

Verdict: 65/100