Baneful Genesis Records, 2007
Spiculum Iratus:
1. Intro/Confusion of Tongues
2. Black Crucifixion Wounds
3. Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
4. Perdition
5. Sky Burial Requiem
6. Scrolls of the Dead
7. The Seventh Day of Wrath
Bestial Incarnation:
8. Denominated Abhorrence
9. Bestial Incarnation
10. Opprobrium Bestowed Upon the Sub-Humans
11. Divinity Scorned
12. Eradicating the Human Race
Side Bestial Incarnation here
Side Spiculum Iratus:
Most people that know me know I tend to
dislike U.S. Black Metal. Something
about this nation just lacks the same passion and atmosphere for me. I suppose it was only a matter of time for a
few people to figure it out here and there.
Spiculum Iratus seems to be one of those bands that’s kind of on the
path to “getting it”, for lack of better words.
Is this album astounding, no not
really. But it’s starting to bear
elements that will only make them stronger in the future. I can’t say the U.S. Europe anytime soon, but we all have to start
somewhere. Maybe this generation will
finally have its day. This is actually
one of the first albums I don’t feel like saying the main influence is
Darkthrone. Rather, if we go into
Arckanum’s catalog and give “Fran Marder” a listen, I think we’d find a bit of
a closer comparison. Which is quite a
compliment coming from me because I really like those first two Arckanum
albums. However, the guitar tone from
Spiculum Iratus is very thin. The bass
and guitars don’t have nearly the same presence. Some people may be put off by this tone (or
lack thereof), because it really is… well, lacking. I took it upon myself to move beyond this
infraction because it is their first released recording and decided to focus more
on their compositional prowess.
Compositionally this band is actually
pretty strong. They write songs that
flow and fit together pretty well, and it doesn’t sound like I’m listening to
Darkthrone for the 90th time.
Nor do they feel the need to play outrageously blasting Black Metal like
Marduk. In fact they are a fairly
mid-paced Black Metal group, focusing more on creating a bit of an
atmosphere. However, I think some of
their intended feel was lost in the fairly poor recording quality. I figure with stronger guitar presence they
might put together quite a nice sound.
The major thing that will add to a better atmosphere is if they fixed
the vocals. I’ve actually spoken with
the bassist/vocalist on this recording and he said it was a bit of recording
limitation. Be that as it may, the
vocals are horrible and it actually kind of ruins the overall listen for
me. At some points it’s almost like
having no vocals would have been preferable to these. I would compare them to the vocal performance
on Devilish Era, which is horrible, only the music here is at least good. The vocals are peaked at impossible levels to
the point where they are mostly distorted.
You can’t even tell if the vocalist has a good harsh voice or not
because it’s just distortion, almost as if singing through a distortion pedal
or something. It’s just horrible and it
really has no place if you want to perform competent Black Metal. It’s not like Iblis in Endstille, where the
guy just screams so loud the recording equipment peaks, this is because the
equipment is just that poor.
Lyrically it wasn’t anything profound,
but I don’t expect it to come up that often.
The one song I outright didn’t like was “Hanged, Drawn and Quartered”
because it is an overly atypical song.
However, I did like “Confusion of Tongues”, and coincidentally I thought
it was the best song on the album musically as well. Though, I would have to correct them in
“Black Crucifixion Wounds” where it referenced Mary mother of Jesus as a
whore. This is a common misconception
that Mary Magdalene was a whore. The
Mary that was the prostitute is actually a different Mary altogether and from
what I’ve read it would seem Mary Magdalene came for a relatively well off
family. The book “Holy Blood, Holy
Grail,” has a lengthy passage on this.
From what those authors have derived, the church originally supported
the outlook that she was a whore to steer the people away from worshiping the
feminine, which was a pretty a common practice in just about all Pagan
religions. And as anyone who has read
the Bible knows, it’s pretty pro-male dominance. Ah well, one little mistake can surely be
overlooked, but I figure people enjoy reading those odd ends of facts I tend to
throw out every now and again.
In summation, not the most ground
breaking recording out there, but it definitely gives hope to the U.S.
scene. I’m starting to find a few more
bands here and there that actually have real merit. I think Spiculum Iratus can be classified as
one of those bands that should be watched.
Hopefully they will go on to release better things, with better
recording quality of course, for this is one instance where it would benefit
the music.
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