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Ava Inferi > Burdens > Reviews
Ava Inferi - Burdens

Electric funeral - 90%

blackoz, December 6th, 2006

Rune Eriksen, aka Blasphemer of black metal baddies Mayhem, appears as the songwriter and guitarist on this surprising and very impressive debut. Ava Inferi’s “Burdens” brings together the Norwegian Eriksen with Portuguese musicians and the result is something quite unique.

If you’re expecting the surgical precision of Blasphemer’s violent, throat-slicing guitar work so integral to the sound of Mayhem you’ll be disappointed but his signature’s there nonetheless. Eriksen’s sour-toned chords and arpeggios provide the same icy chill that characterizes his Mayhem work but the music here is altogether slower, taken at almost funereal pace. The guitar’s tone is less brittle, polished to a black sheen that complements the brooding melancholia of the music perfectly. At first listen it’s all deceptively simple but repeated plays lift subtle details, like fine needle work in a black tapestry.

Restraint is the keyword throughout, nowhere more so than in the gorgeous vocals of singer Carmen Susana Simoes. Think “soaring female singer fronts metal band” and you might immediately envision Evanescence or Nightwish. Ava Inferi is nothing like that. Simoes doesn’t so much front the band as interweave with it. Her singing is like an instrument placed firmly into the backline, coming forward on occasion for a solo. I have to admit I’d like to hear more of her as she switches from Kate Bush warblings to angelic airiness reminiscent of Jacqui McShee or Emma Kirkby.

If criticism can be leveled it’s not so much because the music is rather one-paced but that it doesn’t have a climax. The whole album is a kind of black metal tone poem. You feel like you’re on a journey … but to where? The closer, “Fate of Mountains”, is a slow-burning epic and the guitars overlay to produce the symphonic power of a state funeral … but it’s not quite a finale.

In fact the track that stands out for me is the one that shimmers ever so slightly over the dark wasteland, “Vultos”, sung in Portuguese by Simoes. The brushwork and brighter guitar tones introduce a loping, almost Latin texture before Eriksen, sounding a little like Paul Kossoff, puts the pedal down to wrest control. An all-too-short delight that will have you reaching for the repeat button.

Small criticisms aside, the whole album is sublimely listenable front to back and I reach for it now almost automatically, knowing I will savour it like a piece of bittersweet dark chocolate.

Credit must go to Season of Mist for realizing the beautiful sound of the album, enhanced by 48-bit mastering. The highs are there but never overstated, hanging like a ghostly mist over the eerie black landscape shaped by an ingenious mix of electric and (gasp!) acoustic guitar tones. The cover art, also, deserves mention. It’s magnificent, mirroring the black lustre of the music while refracting the odd muted splash of colour.

“Burdens” is an original. I can’t think of anything else quite like it. I can hear touches of King Crimson, Pentangle and, of course, the occasional Mayhem reference but these are just glints off the steely black carapace of this remarkable album. It deserves 90 (at least) and I look forward to the next album presaged on the band’s website.