Philosophy of the Beast

“Philosophy of the Beast”, released by Finland’s Vultyr in 2004, is an album with absolutely no grey space to it. It is either going to be embraced as a breath of fresh air, or written off as a humorous novelty of a black metal release. While it deservingly can be swung both ways, the underlying approach and formula on these songs and the album as a whole, has many positive and equally negative things going for it.

First off, we have ten songs clocking in at nearly thirty eight minutes of material, with no intros or outros. These ten tracks are all straight-forward and very linear in their execution, which leads to the first noticeably interesting thing about this album: the use of contemporary song structures. Nearly all of the songs on “Philosophy of the Beast” use some version of the verse/chorus/verse/break schematic which is the tried and true formula for classic rock and basic heavy metal, so if you’re looking for something atypical to the common idea of what most black metal fan’s recognize as the general ‘sound and feel’ of black metal, you’re definitely in the wrong spot. There is no progression, no smoke and mirrors, no additional effects, and no really dynamic songwriting or composing on this album; hearing the first verse and chorus means you’ve heard damn near the entire song. Referring to the aforementioned idea of what most of us perceive as being the general ‘sound and feel’ of black metal, “Philosophy of the Beast” lacks in speed, opting to play almost exclusively as moderate and mid-tempo paces, and it lacks in aggressive vocal work. In terms of vocals, “Philosophy of the Beast” makes use of actual singing (or an attempt to…), which is in the form of raspy, snarl-lipped grunts that sound like their might have been a little bit of ‘is this really a good idea, guys?’ to it. On occasion, the vocals do take on the atypical black metal vocal approach, but are often accented by the above-mentioned grunt-style singing, which works in conjuction to either harmonically compliment or contrast one another, adding some diversity to the formula.

In terms of musicianship, the mechanics at play are the most bare, basic ideas imaginable. Primitive, would be the best word to describe the playing approach. As stated above, atop of the use of contemporary composition, is the use of very basic penmanship when it comes to instrumentation. Songs such as ‘174’ and the title track, feel like punk songs, with their use of basic, repeated three to four chord patterns, very simple, passive drumming, the dual vocal ‘attack’, and it’s reliance on big guitar and vocal hooks to serve as a dynamic springboard of sorts to progress the songs. Moving forward, we have songs such as “Red Light Dungeon”, “Murdered and Undone”, “Dedication”, and “Life’s Oppression”, that make use of that contemporary approach to song writing, relying heavily on the same writing formula, with minor changes coming in the forms of very simple melodic leads and the rare solo thrown in for kicks. While being a novel idea that works at times, it becomes repetitious after awhile and can become somewhat self-defeating.

The production on “Philosophy of the Beast” displays warm and gritty mid-range tone, and a sensation that the album was recorded as a band, rather then each individual sitting down and playing through their parts one by one. The guitar and vocals are on the immediate forefront, with a surprisingly audible bass tone coupled with the rattle-clank sound of the drum kit bringing up the low end.

Overall, “Philosophy of the Beast” is great if you have trouble handling the aggression and intensity of more brazen black metal acts, or if you want to get your younger sister into black metal. While the toe-tapping catchiness makes for a breath of fresh air, it loses its steam quickly, and just doesn’t deliver where and when it counts the most. “Philosophy of the Beast” isn’t a particularly terrible disc, it’s just a little tame, a little passive and a little…well, weak.