Break out your dictionaries folks. The lyrics are a heady poetry not to be easily deciphered.
Mysterium have captured an atmospheric Death Metal with a penchant for melody and strangeness.
Much like
Opeth, this band is experimenting and pushing those boundaries of traditional Death Metal. Where
Opeth uses odd chord structures on guitar to create the atmospherics,
Mysterium uses keyboards to achieve it. Don't let that throw you. The keys are evident , but the guitars are heavy and sometimes fast, and the rhythm section pounds. You'll find growling vocals, clean vocals, and female vocals as well. The female vocals don't appear often and are rather an additional element than a mainstay. They are good female vocals too. Not operatic squeals. On that note I will break down the band for you.
On vocals, guitars we have Sagron. On keys, electronics-Gwidyion. On guitars- Ciikh. On Bass-Ferrak. On Drums-Orpheus. Guest female vocalist-S. Tiefensee. Guest clean vocals-Markus B. of Autumnblaze fame. For the album recording we have O.Jungmann on drums. The album production is crystal clear and full, so no complaints there at all. Very well done.
Musically, this band is similar to Winds, if you have heard them before. Dark, mysterious, otherworldly sounding. The experimental, non-linear approach to the song structures leaves the album a bit difficult to get into. Sometimes the vocals are buried just under the music so as to make it sound as if they are whispering untold secrets.
This will force you to follow along with the lyric booklet., and that's when you will need to break out the aforementioned dictionary. These guys are trying to get more across than everyday conversation. If Edgar Alan Poe were in a metal band, he would be in
Mysterium!
You have to be in a mood to hear this album, or on a depressant :) The music and poetic, I should say, dark poetic lyrics can be difficult to contemplate. A little too much work required to fully get into this one. Interesting but a bit tedious. You know how
Opeth albums are? You love them but you can only take them so much, so often.
So all in all, they have the skills and talent. They have a good sound. If you have an hour or so and are in a contemplative, dark mood. Buy it and a dictionary, pop it in and vegetate.
Written by
David Sunday, August 10, 2003
Show all reviews by DavidRatingsDavid: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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