Vedenjakaja

IC Rex is a one-man Finnish exhibition of Luciferian black metal which proves that lo-fi recording values need not be incorporated at the expense of the concepts of strong melody and layered riffing textures, but I can't help but feel that his third album Vedenjakaja might have benefited from an upgrade. Normally I go all out for this, after all I'm a whore for Darkthrone and Horna, the latter of which is probably the closest IC Rex has to a direct influence. But with Vedenjakaja, I feel like Cinatas has a lot of great musical ideas that would have been better suited to a slight flourish of cleaner, modern aesthetics, but instead some seem lost in the harrowing, raw edge of the mix, while others strive too much to the fore.

Regardless, the songwriting here is as tight and focused as the reaper upon the cover, its scythe as bright as the moon. Cinatas balances tempos between periods of tinny, crashing blast beats and slower, moody atmospheric sequences with soaring, clean vocals, all of which can be heard in the post-intro track "Valolanka". He loves to include lead guitar, whether in shorter flurries or more prolonged, proper solos, and this constantly creates an added dimension against the influx of grime that the more typical rhythm guitars bring to the altar. There are a number of cuts here which seem rather excessively inflated, like the 14 minute title track or the 11 and a half minute "Näky Hävityksestä", but IC Rex compensates for their swell with an appreciable degree of variation in their borders that manages to avoid the pitfall of suffering slog that often plagues most over-ambitious black metal composers.

My personal favorite here is in fact "Hautajaiskulkue", which is this slowly moving piece in which the low, somber riffs churn against massive tides of despairing melody, ghostly and subtle background synths and Cinatas ashen rasp. It's all atmospheric enormity, and while it panders along a predictable course, it's difficult not to feel moved near to tears. I even love the dippy little proggish synths that appear during the bridge upon the precipice of perception. But overall, even though this is a long album (about 75 minutes), it's somewhat consistent. Vedenjakaja is a few years old, but the 2011 vinyl re-issue also includes two messier bonus tracks that are not quite as piercing as the core material. At any rate, while I think that a slightly better balanced mix would have brought more of the music's emotional layers to the surface, this is nonetheless a fitting landscape for suffering, a volatile breath of cold, crisp night air that shimmers with malice and sorrow.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Last year's "Valonkantajan Alkemia" was one of last years' highlights for me, so I was surprised to see that the follow-up, "Vedenjakaja" was going to be released less than a year later. Thus, I did not hesitate to pick it up as soon as I saw it in a distro.

Stylistically, "Vedenjakaja" does exactly as it should as the follow-up to the previous album. IC Rex's formula is Horna-inspired riffing mixed with occult lyricism and atmosphere, with a not-overdone, well-placed use of keyboards. All of these aspects are improved upon in "Vedenjakaja", especially the keyboards, which are more sparse on this album, yet are placed in such a way that they add more to the atmosphere. A good example of this is on the song "Hautajaiskulkue", the slowest song on the album, which features a doomy riff with celestial keyboards hanging above it, providing the perfect complement.

Along with these things, IC Rex introduces the element of lead guitars on this album, playing melodies over the riffs that are at times majestic, frightening, or melancholic. These are a great addition to IC Rex's sound, which will hopefully be continued in the future. They will do even more than IC Rex already has to set himself apart from the rest of the Finnish scene.

The only drawback to this album is the fact that it uses a drum machine. "Valonkantajan Alkemia" featured a live drummer, who may have not provided the most outstanding metal drumming (though it was good), but still completed the raw, organic sound of the album. The drum machine on this album is annoying on the first few songs, especially "Kristallipalatsi", where it has that infamous effect of blending into the guitars and distorting both instruments. It stands out less on the songs after that one though, which is good. However, in my opinion, drum machines only work in black metal if the production is crystal clear (Limbonic Art, later Summoning), or if the industrial aspect is inherent in the first place (Mysticum, Aborym). Using drum machines in rawer types of black metal is most always a mistake.

Overall, this is a good album, and sees IC Rex stepping out from the rest of the Finnish scene and forging a greater identity of his own. If only for the next album he could continue this trend, and at the same time find a live drummer. Then, we would have a hell of an album on our hands.

Standout tracks: Näky Hävityksestä, Mestarin Ääni