Mortal Entrenchment in Requiem

This is a very mysterious band. There seems to be a recurring phenomenon in which underground acts in the pre-social media days end up in this very shrouded and convoluted limbo where not much info about them survives decades later. According to some sources, this band began playing speed or thrash metal, then switched to death metal before finally settling upon black metal. It's not uncommon for bands to shift genres or change music styles, but considering the early demos which contained material of the band's supposed beginnings as a thrash-turned-death metal group are all lost media is frustrating to say the least. Throw in the fact that the vocalist of this band ended his own life after this album, and the unconfirmed rumor they continued without him makes it even worse. See what I mean? So this is Malvery a Canadian black metal band whose origins are about as dark and bleak as their own music sounds.

From my understanding Malvery tend to get pigeonholed into the vague "depressive suicidal black metal" (DSBM) offshoot, but I'd argue otherwise. From my perspective this is actually relatively brutal black metal with avant-garde stylings (rather than depressive ones). The suicidal-theme is present, but in the music standpoint it sounds/feels more like descending to Hell, which is the focal point of black metal as a whole. If this is DSBM, this is the most brutal DSBM album I ever heard. Blast beats out the ass performed by an extremely talented percussionist while the most evil riffs compliment the percussive violence behind it. It's without question these band members have definitely played death metal in the past. However, the heaviness isn't as incessant as I'm making it sound rather than the blasting sections, while they are the best parts in my opinion, are occasional. A lot of the sections which bridge the record between these parts are droned-out tremolo guitar sections while the drummer freestyles on his kit. This is where the "experimental" feel really comes into play as this representation of the genre is indeed irregular. You'd have to hear it to understand.

Vocals are very eerie, not just when you keep in the mind that this dude performing them committed suicide but his anguished scream isn't even the most haunting sound he makes. Believe it or not, the uhh 'clean vocals' tend to be the one that stay with you. The multi-tracked reverb-soaked half-sung wails almost literally sound like what a ghost would sound like if you, for whatever reason, ever decided to explore a haunted abandoned house.

To me my score seems a bit higher than what I would rate a album like this, but for the fact that this record remains memorable and leaves such an impression on the listener is enough justification for me. I'll admit the first couple songs on the record are definitely better than the later ones, but the overall experience is one to behold. This is definitely something for the fans of legitimately scary black metal like Endless Dismal Moan or Axis of Perdition to check out.

Second and, with lead vocalist Amer le Chatier's suicide following shortly after its release, the last of Malvery's official output, this album might be considered le Chatier's most fully realised summation of the demons and depression that tormented him. The recording is similar to Malvery's earlier demo, titled simply "Promo '98", in style and in the way the tracks are structured; the two recordings can be regarded as companion pieces and the demo the prelude to the album.

After a woozy ambient 3-minute introduction in which the listener is eased gently into the very uneasy Malvery musical world, the album lets rip with the blackened death nightmare of "Drowned in a Dried Up Lake" in which machine-gun blast-beats and juddering tremolo guitars trade death blows with le Chatier's hysterical screams and intense melodic melodrama. Listeners are confronted with a vision of a desolate hell of sheer black despair and nothingness. After this shock, the album advances with the solution to the problem presented: the 11-minute "Suicide the Only Solution" which is the centrepiece of the album. The song presents as though it's a mini-opera: the music describes the fevered mood of its vocalist / protagonist, caught up in inner torment, as he rants and rages. Thumping tribal-sounding drums and an evil spidery tremolo solo guitar bind the singer in his cage as he descends further into his personal abyss. Death metal elements add to the tension and the sense of being trapped with the madman. Le Chatier goes completely berserk in the song's later moments and the deep thundering music mirrors his madness; there is always an odd sense though of the music keeping a tight control of le Chatier and squeezing him.

The album continues with two other tracks of blackened death horror drama and while they have their moments of intense delirium and madness, they seem very much footnotes to the earlier half of the recording. There are excellent passages of improvised instrumental music and virtuoso blast-beat drumming on tracks 4 and 5, all building steadily to what must be utter breaking-point for the vocalist, by now in total thrall to black hellish phantoms in his head. The music's pace is beyond frantic yet in the way it moves with juddering precision it's both controlled and demented.

The music is amazingly powerful, deep and thunderous and its overall sound is the major highlight of the album. The guitars are raw and demented and the drumming no less crazed. The tightness of the music, its precision and speed can be terrifying to hear.

At the other extreme, Le Chatier's screeching and ranting can be excessive, lingering as it does in the higher registers of his vocal range. Surely there's much more to madness and existential despair than constant temper tantrums; there's the blackest depression as well and maybe there should have been moments of deep black space in the music where you're forced to contemplate the finality of death and the black vacuum behind it. At times you wish for the odd ray of hope and light in le Chatier's world: that would have kept you on tenterhooks wondering if there's a chance that le Chatier might be saved (in the music at least) and made the album's second half worth following all the way.

Overall this is a very distinctive and original contribution to the realm of depressive suicidal BM. While it's a shame that such music can no longer be made - it needs le Chatier's vision and energy - I suppose that two albums' worth is really enough and any more risks turning the music into histrionic theatrical kitsch.

Malvery, one of the rare black metal bands from Québec, released their first album 6 years after the band was formed.This album is great for a debut, it has some great guitar work and some very impressive vocals. This album was recorded when the vocalist was just about to commit suicide (he killed himself shortly after this album was recorded), so the vocals sound more like someone screaming at the top of his lungs, not your average black metal vocals; you can feel the anger in every song.

"As Drowning Came From Horizon", the album's kick-off track, has no guitars in it, only strings, which makes a very ambient track.. This piece is emotional (and no screaming yet), the vocalist is just talking/singing. The vocals sound a bit like a choir, but much more darker (and also out of one). The second song, "Drowned In A Dried-Up Lake" starts right off with an agressive guitar riff, with the vocalist screaming, struggling.It sounds like he's trying to fight his way out of misery by screaming. No lyrics yet, but shouts here and there. This song still feels like a preparation to the other songs on the album, (since the next song is 11:09).

The third song on the album, "Suicide, The Only Solution" (the highlight song of this album), is where the vocalist takes it all out. In the intro, he screams all he can. The rest of this song is very slow, (with a little doom metal feel), and it's probably the best song off the album. The last 3 songs on the album are amazing as well.

However, the guitar riffs were a bit too common in some places, "Suicide, The Only Solution" should have a few more riffs and more instrumental parts, that could focus on guitars or keyboards instead, for a change.Also, more clean vocals would've been really nice. The screaming gets old after a while.

Despise these few flaws, this is a great album that should be enjoyed by most black metal fans.