Distractive Killusions

It is hard to believe this is the same band that dropped the immense and avant-garde Firefrost Arcanum just four years prior, isn't it? Distractive Killusions, while reflecting Vesania's continued decision to emulate black metal's more commercial trappings, still can't suppress this band's innate ability to write potent, riff-heavy black metal anthems to the insane. Don't fight the urge, Wróblewski and company will teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

Obviously, this material runs parallel with God the Lux in most regards. The keyboards are slightly more suppressed this time around, leaving the guitars to fill in the sonic gaps. Stylistically, the guitars are playing the same death metal-inflected patterns, rarely taking the time to engage in traditional black metal aesthetics. The songwriting is more enterprising than on Vesania's prior LP, but as a result many songs end up simply spinning their tires for large passages depending solely on the quality of the riffing. The keyboards just aren't present enough this time around to carry the music on their own.

"Rage of Reason" can be viewed as the stylistic successor to "Posthuman Kind", summoning the same foreboding atmosphere, albeit this time backed by a more significant guitar presence and a superior vocal performance. Other tracks such as "Infinity Horizon" and closer "Aesthesis" tease us with what a respectable Dimmu Borgir would sound like. Opener "Narrenschyff" is armed with a riff set that almost borders on technical death metal at times, yielding a unique atmosphere once combined with Vesania's tight rhythm section. The drums are almost universally exceptional, pushed into the spotlight by the natural-sounding mix. The workmanlike blasting fails to win any awards in the speed category, yet it is the busywork on the toms and cymbals that really brings the kit alive. Distractive Killusions is thankfully well produced, sounding just shy of the mark set by God the Lux regarding clarity and epic scope.

Wróblewski continues to move away from the traditional black metal rasp present on Vesania's earlier work. His robotic tone, which may be difficult to stomach on its own, manages to ease its way into a comfortable spot on Distractive Killusions. He experiments with some different intonations of the same general approach, but not so much that the otherworldly effect upon the listener is lost. The maniacal cackling present on "Narrenschyff" sets the standard early on for how off-the-wall the vocal performance should be. The keyboards effectively deliver the subdued epic qualities without sounding overbearing or cheesy. This is an important cog in the Vesania mechanism, giving the heavier guitars a solid counterpoint without sounding bloated like most modern symphonic black metal acts.

Distractive Killusions showed a marked improvement over the unfocused God the Lux, with a more accessible songwriting style which still maintains the extremity and sonic chaos Vesania are known for. It is a common misconception that this is a side-project of Wróblewski's. As stated in interviews, Vesania is his main band, not Behemoth. Lets hope he finds the time to give us some more Vesania material, because his band always delivers a rewarding listening experience, no matter what side of the black metal genre they are functioning in.

(Revised/Updated 1/10/14)