Daemon Viam Invenient

I'm getting weird flashbacks here. Although Root are a fairly well known Czech band, with decades of history behind them, I've never had a chance to hear them before. One spin, and it's like being subjected to King Diamond for the first time again. It's a really kick-ass band. The drums, guitars, the bass, all of them are experts. Heroes, no less. A darkened heavy metal band exactly knowing what to do and where to do it.

But the singer... what on Earth, is this man doing? Two or three more spins and I'm converted. Where the Hell has this been hiding until now?

Got to love Root, really. Although they apparently started as one of the original pre-second wave black metal bands, today they are quite a different beast. You might even call them progressive, although they aren't really trying it. It's just natural. If there's a need for a creepy, clean moment, it's there, but Root are equally good at building tension through various steps to high speed thrashing and back. Or just going from silent to swirling guitar wizardry in an instant. All the time staying deliberate, determined, grim and... honest.

One can take two approaches in trying to describe the music. You can either try to pointlessly describe the heaviness, count all the rhythm changes, all the sermon-like parts and all the ludicrous parts closing in on you. Or you can just say, "this is what Satanists do when they grow up (hint: they never fully do)."

Before I make another comparison, let me just say that the vocals have nothing to do with King Diamond whatsoever. But after discovering an unique band and feeling the same way as listening to the good old Church of Satan member, King Diamond, for the first time, it was quite curious to learn that Jiri "Big Boss" Valter was in fact the founder of the first Church of Satan in Czechoslovakia. Respect.

Even the sound on Daemon Viam Invenient could come as a surprise — it's real. Everything is clear and present. The drums have a real tone, the guitars haven't been subjected to any of the nowadays popular sound treatments. For a change, you're getting great guitar sound as played through a fine amplifier and without making exceptions for the other instruments. Talk about self-confidence. If you want to follow the bass lines, it's also possible (and sometimes very rewarding). To a listener accustomed to modern sounds, Root might even sound as a mis-match because there's a tiny bit of space between the instruments, preventing them to blend together. And it was a great choice, actually, because it's hard to imagine any "blend" of sounds getting along with those vocals...

Oh, those vocals. More flashbacks will follow when you hear Big Boss' — let's vaguely call it "baritone." Ever had nightmares of big, bald, evil priests coming at you and singing, caused by watching comedies with singing priests in them in your childhood? Errr, I guess you haven't. Neither have I, but that's the impression. The man is in a class of his own and he doesn't care. There's no excuse for those dramatic, theatrical, exaggerated vibratos, half-spoken, half-growled statements, screams, laughs and sighs.

Whatever you think Big Boss shouldn't really be trying to do — he does it. And gets away with it. You can simply feel he means it. Look at the guy — or his lyrics — and you'll KNOW he means it. To see a grown man going mad like this, in all possible directions, is just scary. Or laughable, but if that's the case you'll probably be laughing with him, not at him.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you think there's not enough adventure, danger, pride or madness in metal today — or you just can't be surprised any more — Root is the way to go... especially if you miss the days when you were entertained by someone actually older and crazier than you. Someone who knows something you don't.

The Czech Republic's original Satanists, Root, emerged from the studios last year with another fat slab of brooding dark metal for 'heads everywhere to enjoy. Anyone who has been tracking the development of this band will be familiar with the epic aspirations of the music on their previous albums. Whilst the majority of black metal hordes descend further into lo-fi self parody, Root stands apart as a band that places musicality ahead of image.

Following on the back of the intriguing "Casilda" ep, Daemon Viam Invenient continues to showcase the band's instrumental talents and a more approachable sound. The album has many of the classic rock elements that were hinted at on the ep's cover versions of Hendrix and Beatles classics. The tracks "Awakening" and "Immortals (Tears of Stone)" have definite "monsters of rock" vibes that would have Tommy Vance flipping the horns from beyond the grave at the
palm-muted riffs and the bellowed vocals.

The charismatic performances of the band members have always been the most attractive part of Root's music. Big Boss maintains the (now trademark) operatic foghorn vocals that throw out ground-shaking bass litanies in praise of the dark lord Satan. But whereas the vocals were once the driving force of the band, here they are integrated into the music with more subtlety and reserve. The haunting, folkish opener "Black Dove & White Raven" demonstrates this well. The tidy production job is ideal for creating a weighty, thick backing to the clear and distinct lyrics without any aspect getting lost or muddled in the mix. And when the vocals drop out, there is invariably a soaring, pre-conceived solo to take its place.

The individual tracks are perhaps more self-contained than previous albums, with each making sense as a standalone recording. Without following a predictable structure, nor meandering off over the horizon of open-ended song writing, the tracks here are focused yet sprawling in their scope. Expect an array of riffs, tempos and vocal effects as the band builds a crescendo out of unfolding riff shapes and immediate, tribal percussion. The direction of the song writing
here is as expected from recent recordings - dramatic, all-out sections punctuated by soft, spoken word interludes of clean guitars and "barely there" drumming.

This is quality material and as such, you can't go wrong with a Root album. Some bands make albums that are predictable because they never develop as musicians, but in the case of Root, Daemon Viam Invenient is predictable for the typically high quality of the material on offer. A mass of different styles, excellent performances, and an understated gravity and credibility that belies the accessible nature of the music. It is easy to see why this band is considered a safe bet every time they record new material.

(Originally written for BLAST! zine #1)

This album was so bewildering that nobody bothered to review it in the last two years of its release. That should pretty much say it all, but since that isn't enough to account for an entire review, I suppose I will elaborate:

There is no question that Root are one of the best Metal bands ever, with a host of soul-searing, artistically brilliant albums for any seasoned metal fans to sink their teeth into if they haven't already. Yes, I have no problem with saying that albums like Temple in the Underworld, The Book and Black Seal are amongst the finest pieces of heavy music I've ever listened to, with their undeniably cool style and creative flair. With albums as strong as those, even their weird little nuances on the follow up Madness to the Graves were excusable. Sure, it was strange and kind of nonsensical, but it was cool, so how could anyone really complain? Well, the answer to that question can be found in the puzzling little mind-fuck that Root had chosen to title Daemon Viam Invenient, and it is a pretty tough nut to crack.

Root can be likened here to an old man who was once great and has since transpired into loopy mediocrity, but nobody really has the heart to say otherwise - he's just harmless, after all, and he doesn't know what he's doing. This album is just confused all around, with little coherent structure to it at all, and although I don't doubt that Big Boss probably had some ideas here, the delivery is just botched to all hell. None of the good ideas are elaborated upon, none of the songs are really too terribly memorable and none of them really seem to go anywhere. It sounds kind of like Root done by a cover band that didn't have the talent to capture the idiosyncratic and mystical dark energy that went into the older albums. The songs here are just kind of boring, and surprisingly flat and one-dimensional, compared to what we're used to for these guys. I don't want to make it sound like I'm only docking points from this because it doesn't compare to older material, but really, this is just half-assed all around. Even reading the lyrics, which are excellently done, you get the idea that this should be...well...better! It's fucking Root for Satan's sake, why is it so damned boring?

I think a large portion of that can be traced to the loss of long-time axe-slinger Blackie, whose absence is apparently sorely missed: there are nowhere near the amount of cool riffs here as compared to before. I mean, it's seriously like night and fucking day. This album doesn't even really focus on the guitars all that much, not so much as on the vocals and the drumming. A big part of the Root sound was the crunchy riffs and the esoteric melodies, but here all we really get are shallow imitations of those. Oh, sure, Big Boss can try and cover it up with weird jazzy solos and punk riffs all he wants, but the sad fact is right in our faces.

There is exactly one good song on this album, titled "Sonata of the Chosen Ones." It starts out with a cool little electronic effect, and then jettisons into a jagged Root riff with some deep, demonic intonations from Big Boss, and while it wouldn't exactly stand out on some of the preceding albums, it's a pretty damn good song anyway, and I like it well enough. But the rest of the stuff here doesn't cut it at all.

Okay, so "Human" is an okay song, and so is "She," but then we sink into crap with "Who're They?," which is a punky, fast song with speedy drumming and raw vocals that don't sound very inspired at all, and sadly that is about par for the course here. Some of these songs have cool guitar solos, but guitar solos can make anything sound cool, even songs as lame as "And They Are Silent," "What Will Be Next" and the insufferable "Hope Dies at Last." Even when these songs start to show promise they aren't memorable in any way, and the whole thing is just kind of sad to witness. Don't even get me started on the absolutely ridiculous last two songs, either. It's just better not to touch on some things. All I'll say is that both of them kind of suck and neither are enjoyable, relevant or listenable in any way whatsoever (hint, hint, guys, stop using static beeps in your songs!).

I think the best way to describe this would be that it's kind of like Hell. When people talk about metal albums being "hellish," they often mean it in a very positive way, indicating that the album in question evokes an evil and dark atmosphere and does it quite well. But really, when you think about it, "hellish" wouldn't really describe things like that, it would describe things like this album; annoying, insufferable and constantly bearing down on you. This album is like a journey through Hell in that it is painful like the sound of a power drill in your ear, overly bludgeoning and ridiculously inconsistent. The masterfully constructed atmosphere of The Book and Temple in the Underworld? No, no, no, this is the kind of thing the devil would play as you rode down on the reaper's chariot for your first night in Hell.

But even without all of that, this album is just confusing, really. It is a lot of things - silly, disjointed, annoying, shitty - but it is mostly just confusing overall. It's not an awful album, but coming from a band as exceptional as Root, this is sadly unacceptable. It gets points for creativity, but it loses a whole lot more for the apparent lack of coherent thought that went into writing it. It's like the band focused too much on being weird and forgot to write any actual songs on here, and that is not good at all. Daemon Viam Invenient is an album that pulls the listener in so many different directions that not only do they not know what to think when it ends, they also don't really give a crap, either, and that is perhaps the worst thing that can be said of a musical venture. This is pretty pointless overall, and unless you really have a morbid sense of curiosity, I wouldn't suggest picking up Root's newest album over...well, pretty much anything better.