Chamber of Divine Elaboration

Reverence is one of the better industrial black metal bands around today. It’s no surprise that they come from France, where every band in this genre seems to have something unique to offer. They have a lot in common with their countrymen Blut Aus Nord, who they appeared with on the excellent split “Dissociated Human Junction.” They flirt with some of the same chiming dissonance, although they never really push things into truly experimental or progressive territory. Axis of Perdition comes to mind quite a bit, too, mainly in terms of atmosphere. I don’t know if I’m being swayed by their country of origin, but I also think I can hear quite a bit of the progressive French death metal band SUP in here, too. Something about their preference for plodding mid-paced arrangements reminds me of that band. Reverence isn’t quite as experimental (or as interesting) as any of these bands, but their music is more accessible, for what that’s worth.

There’s quite a bit of originality running through their music. The sound is nice and thick, and has a lot of depth to it. The use of samples is mercifully kept to a minimum (something I think is overused by a lot of bands with industrial tendencies). The focus is always on the music, which comes closest to black metal, although there isn’t much tremolo picking going on here, or much else that is usually associated with black metal. In terms of speed and general oppressiveness, the music probably comes closest to doom, with its slowly crawling slabs of sound, although this tag doesn’t really fit, either. The music never gets faster than mid-paced, which works well for the doomy atmosphere of urban decay that the band is going for. It can be a little repetitive for my tastes, but they generally keep things interesting. The vocals are unique and very sinister, not really black metal shrieking, probably closer to death metal growling. The production is excellent. Anyone into industrial black metal needs to check this out. I can’t imagine that it will disappoint anyone—it’s weird enough for the weirdos, and accessible enough for the average metal fan. If they had pushed things just a tiny bit further into progressive territory, this would have been a masterpiece. As it is, it’s very solid and moderately interesting black metal with a unique atmosphere.