Mammal

Neptune is often mistakenly interpreted as simply the god of the seas, in reality from the triad of gods that make up Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto (or rather their original Greek aspects) each is the god of all that inhabited his portion of the realm on earth, so Jupiter is the god of all that is above the earth, the heavens the rain the lightning... Pluto is the god of all that is below the earth and therefore not only the underworld but also all that is underground, such as gold, diamonds or iron. And then Neptune is the god of everything on earth, the seas, the forests, the mountains, the animals... So starting an album with the vast "Neptune is Dead" can be seen as a declaration of musical and lyrical intentions.

I'm still not sure if I like this album more than their debut, I think the previous one had a clear idea that was shown in a quite conceptual way throughout the whole album, making it an experience that would require listening from beginning to end for all those ideas shown to fit the listener, however "Mammal" is more casual in the sense that I can take any of their songs and listen to it individually and take away the whole experience that that particular track offers me. So even though they contain a lot of similarities I think the experiences that each album brings are rather different. Mammal is more intrusive, less landscape-like focusing less on the drone segments and more on that toxic and suffocating style that the first album already showed, the sound is more raw and less accessible, often with distortions close to audio-terror.

Although the style is still the same I think there is a certain problem in the compositions that they didn't drag before, and in this album the members of AOP are unable to move beyond the classic build up that starts from a melodic section to become an angry maelstrom captained by those guitar leads so recognizable, the worst thing is that they are very good at executing this style because it works in a great way almost always but I can't prevent myself from feeling a bit of laziness in not trying to give a different approach to your compositions, on their debut album you could already appreciate some bad practice in the repetition in some compositions but it could be better justified by being a kind of a single song divided in four, but here each song has its own identity, so listening to the same kind of build up that you can already see coming from the beginning of the melodic section makes me a little bit tiresome.

Something that on the other hand if I find a step forward from what previously done is the drums, without detracting from James Kelly, but Johny King is by far a far superior drummer, and the first time I heard him on the 2018 Conan album I found him a more than remarkable drummer and I was really surprised by his technique for a doom metal album, in this work he shows once again that virtuoso/eclectic style that gives him personality but without doing fancy tricks in order to stand out, he adapts to the tone of the work, but he adds his personal touch.

Despite the fact that the compositions have been simplified in part, they have also gained in experimentation, and concretely the dark instrumental "When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean" is what ended up winning me over, I don't know if it's for its lugubrious and decadent sound, for the impact it has from the first second or for how ominous it can be. Either way it manages to show what for me is the best side of Altar of Plagues, an incredible but at the same time dark atmosphere accompanied by a depressive aura where the noise of the cement and the electricity collide against the sound of nature.

Dense, gloomy, deep, agonizing, dark, there are many adjectives that can be used to describe this album, but without a doubt the word I would use to define it is "distortion", not because of the distortion of the instruments, but because this is one of those works that shakes you from the inside, and distorts your heart.

I think, in the wake of Altar of Plagues' disbanding last year, I'm approaching Mammal differently as a listener than I did when it came out in 2011. The band's significantly sludgier (read: heavier) take on atmospheric black metal stuck me immediately upon first listen, but now that Altar of Plagues have completed their trilogy (with the even-better Teethed Glory and Injury), it's easier to see Mammal for what it is. At once adding dimension to the sound of the debut White Tomb as well as setting the stage for Teethed Glory's experimentalism, Altar of Plagues' proverbial middle child is arguably the most immediately compelling of the three, a quality coming at no cost to the album's ferocity and aggression.

If anything sold me quickly on what Altar of Plagues do on Mammal, it's the brilliant way in which they've manifested this style. As a label, post-black metal has a tendency to be a fits-all descriptor for any bands that distanced themselves from a dark or 'evil' atmosphere, to the point where it's virtually synonymous with bands like Alcest and Deafheaven. Of course- as it is with all manners of fusion- the balance of ingredients can be pushed ever so slightly, to create a completely different experience. In the case of Altar of Plagues, the result is every bit as dark and aggressively cathartic as I'd hope for in black metal, but post-metal has influenced the band's sound every bit as much. The crunchy guitar tones, bass-heavy mix and riffy performance aesthetic sound drawn straight from the bowels of post-metal heavyweights like Isis, Neurosis, and Cult of Luna- all bands that exorcise negativity in aggression in their own ways, but bands you'll rarely hear referenced in black metal music nonetheless.

Altar of Plagues virtually perfected their identity and execution on Mammal. The murky-yet-vast production is the perfect presentation for their sound, which is mixed in such a way that it demands presence and attention even on lower volumes. While the ritual repetition of riffs and textures doesn't offer a great deal of insight as to the band's technical skills, the guitar tones have been crafted beautifully, with a depth that distinguishes them from their more 'kvlt'-ish contemporaries. Beyond any other performance on the album, it's the drummer Johnny King that impresses most. As I wrote in my original review for Mammal, the aggressive organism of his playing gives the music a sense of stifling urgency- I hesitate to use the word 'thunderous' in fears of sounding cliched, but there you have it. Altar of Plagues also never fail to bookend their epics with noise/dark ambient passages. While innocuous enough, these segments are appropriately rough and foreshadow the deeper electronic expeditions Altar of Plagues would set off on with Teethed Glory.

Where Mammal falls short of its potential isn't so much the songwriting as its consistency. From the first listen onwards, I've stood by my opinion that "Neptune is Dead" is one of the best atmospheric black metal epics ever written. It's a case wherein the monotonous repetition has been perfected to a point where the listener is constantly engaged by a new layer, a new texture or eruption of a new idea. Dave Condon's half-howled, half-shouted vocals add a fitting sense of dread and negativity to the atmosphere- the band's harrowed admission that "I search for a greater meaning, and still I find nothing" strikes hard every time. "All Life Converges to Some Centre" has a similarly pre-Cambrian punch to it, and though not quite achieving the songwriting perfection of "Neptune is Dead", carries out the album on a powerful note. Less amazing still is "Feather and Bone", a track that emphasizes the post-metal side of the band to impressive effect; it's a strong continuation, but nonetheless feels overshadowed by its superior predecessor. The only track here that truly feels weak is actually "When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean"- Mammal's third track, now somewhat infamous for the sampled keening (that being an old woman's death-wailing, for those laymen out there!). While I've always thought the keening offered an eerie atmosphere and reinforces the longing for a more earthly past, the rest of the song carries much less weight. Over the course of eight minutes, Altar of Plagues constantly sound like they're building up to something, but the song never goes anywhere; there are no satisfying builds or full-bodied ideas to speak of. Perhaps it was the band's attempt to pursue a more experimental style within the album, but to date it's the one track on this album that's never bore any fruit for me.

Mammal lacks the consistency I would expect from a masterpiece, but make no mistake: there are plenty of masterful ingredients here. I am not surprised that Altar of Plagues took me by storm when I first dove into their music in 2011. Mammal expresses a certain uniqueness in its fusion of genres; the style they perfected here could have potentially fed multiple albums after this. With Teethed Glory and Injury however, Altar of Plagues would distance themselves from this post-black golden ratio, brilliantly (and not uncontroversially) mixing things up with added electronic interruptions. Now that Altar of Plagues has disbanded (presumably for good), it's likely we'll never hear the amazing style on Mammal refined to its own point of mastery. Even if Altar of Plagues were still around, I don't think they would dwell in one place long enough to do it anyway.

Originally written for Heathen Harvest Periodical

As with all art forms, progression is to be expected to prevent the product from growing stale. Many an artist has fallen foul to the risk of stagnation, whether through refusal to change or a sense of nostalgia for their tried and true methods. Either way you look at it, stagnation needs to be avoided at all cost to ensure the success of the art world. It would be easy for art to remain a never ending constant, where experimentation is frowned upon and adhering to tried and true conventions is a highly prized priority. However this would only result in the impending implosion of the artistry world, with a high level of stagnation how would art move out of the sludge it has created around it? Continuous experimentation is vital for the success of the art world, music and film in particular. People have relatively short attention spans and to think that they can sit idly by whilst being spoon fed the same old thing hints at a high level of delusion. With experimentation comes great reward, something that is incredibly true in the metal world.

Black metal in particular is a genre that often succumbs to the foul breath of stagnation. With a refusal to alter from the sound laid down by the grim Norwegian forefathers, black metal is at serious risk of losing any and all merit it had going for it. Whilst there is a strong underground scene keeping the genre in good health, the mainstream side of things highlights a refusal to change and a fear of experimentation. Bands who have been cited as pushing the genre into new territories have often been lambasted by the black metal masses, with bands such as Alcest being criticized left, right and center on an enormous scale. Black metal fans get incredibly hard up when changes have been made to the genres template; usually these artists are often considered not true enough and adding undesirable additions to the black metal sound. Whilst experimentation at times can go against the spirit of the genre, I often find that artists have great success with experimenting with this grim and frostbitten artwork.

Altar of Plagues is a band who surely can’t be criticized as “untrue.” With long songs consisting of heavy distortion, high levels of minimalism and anguished vocals, Altar of Plagues are adding their own personal twist to the genre. By pooling in elements from post rock, ambient and drone, Altar of Plagues is a band capable of revitalizing what many see as a dying genre. This Irish band has maintained the true spirit of the genre whilst adding their own unique flavor, creating an utterly distinctive and atmospherically poignant black metal sound. Mammal isn't that much of a departure from the droning and emotionally cathartic White Tomb, both albums are exercises in droning and minimalist black metal, often working around the crescendos associated with post rock. Both of these albums are incredible at creating a powerful and desperate atmosphere, yet the atmosphere emulated is a little different. White Tomb was intense, cruel and harrowing, painted a very bleak picture of an urbanized planet. Mammal is more grandiose and not as bleak, whilst the atmosphere of a never ending coldness is still here in great amounts, Mammal as a whole feels more human and organic. White Tomb felt dead, it was cold, cruel and abrasive. Mammal feels more alive, more fluid; the songs have a much greater sense of dynamics and transitions, with each song continuing to flow fluidly into one and another. There’s a much greater sense of the post metal epoch going on within Mammal. Heavy black metal sections and soothing post rock bleed into each other seamlessly, there’s no sense that the transitions were abrupt. They’re all fluid, all entirely natural. None of the elements feel awkwardly juxtaposed; it’s a perfect blending of many styles that creates an utterly astounding listen.

Whilst many could criticize Altar of Plagues as losing their edge from White Tomb, I personally see it as more of a shift in gears rather than a blip in the quality of the music. Mammal feels more relaxed than White Tomb, not as droning, down to earth. It feels as a natural spiritual progression from the debut. Mammal is a far less apocalyptic affair, it’s still as dim but the whole affair isn't as destructive. There’s a greater sense of how to create a calming atmosphere, guitars drone on just like the debut but they’re not as abrasive. Riffing seems much more refined, more progressive sludge oriented, not as droning. The music changes more, constantly allowing the music to maintain a high level of atmospheric beauty. There’s a strong sense of experimentation within this album, not so much in the way of influences but in how the songs are structured. Song structures lean far closer to bands such as Isis and Neurosis than any other black metal band. Songs are constantly shifting, moving between harsh and abrasive sections and lighter, more relaxing ambiance. The crescendos are immaculately produced and well thought out, constantly resulting in a soaring and majestic climax. Mammal comes off as highly cinematic; to best describe it this is epic black metal. The atmosphere is grandiose yet suitably bleak. Vocals are a harrowing shriek and howl, they sound very detached and distant, they’re a perfect fit for the album. I appreciate how they’re not overused and instead feature a relatively sparse presence within the music. It allows them to create an even greater effect when they finally are deployed, adding a stronger sense of depravity to the album.

Mammal is an excellent follow up to White Tomb. The signature style of post black metal that Altar of Plagues had created has been further tampered and experimented with, creating an altogether beast than its predecessor. The haunting atmosphere is strong and powerful, there’s a strong sense of ruin and decay yet it doesn't come off as apocalyptic as White Tomb. It despairs at the concept of ruin, and channels this perfectly into the music. It’s suitably downtrodden and dismal, the music comes off as fairly lethargic and apathetic, creating the music through an underlying sense of sick duty rather than out of a passion for art. Mammal sees the band carrying on with their apocalyptic black metal style yet moving into even more austere and eclectic territories. This is a fantastic second album for one of the best bands in the scene. Highly recommended.

After the epic drama that was "White Tomb", I had expressed an opinion in my review of that album elsewhere on MA that the sophomore effort would have high expectations riding on it and might be found wanting. That follow-up, "Mammal", is smaller in scale and not quite so ambitious in subject matter and musical scope, but rather more personal and anguished. There are some good ideas and there is certainly a lot of energy and passion on the first half of the album at least. On "Mammal", the concern is about how we will cope as individuals when resources are scarce, life becomes cheap and all we love and cherish (people, ideas, our concepts of life) and that help ground us and connect us to the world and the cosmos die or fall away.

An eerie, icy-cold ambience opens "Neptune is Dead", the longest track on the album, but apart from that introduction this is no resigned walk into an endless night: it is a song of rage against the coming of death. The vocal cries anger and initially the rhythms are hard, constant and pummelling. Guitars have a dark, resonant and sparkling tone which is heard at its best and clearest in parts where the track slows down and the drum-beats become more relaxed. The riffs and melodies vary throughout the track and it seems there are new tunes coming into the song right up until the end but the most consistent aspect is the sense of urgency and unease. Towards the end, the track starts running out of steam and could lose a few moments of repetitive riff padding.

"Feather and Bone" is a rugged song in parts with much the same glittery guitar tones as the previous track but with more anguished, shouting vocals. The drumming can be very thrashy in much of the song. As the track progresses, empty space opens up in which dark-toned piano may appear and the guitar has a slight alien-sounding swirl to it. As the song progresses, it starts to sound laboured and near the end, even the constant riffing is making a real effort to stay the pace.

"When the Sun drowns in the Ocean" begins with graceful solo singing from a guest female vocalist without musical backing against a quiet background of crackle. The music is called to attention by insistent drum-beats but rises very slowly while a machine-piston rhythm takes over. The song concludes with a mournful chant by an old woman with static in the background. I guess this implies some rapid ageing has gone on during the course of the song and with it, the despoliation of the environment. The woman's chant turns out to be a lament.

"All Life converges to Some Centre" is a majestic piece with some trilling, folk-flecked guitar riffs but for its length and slow pace, it's not quite as anguished or sorrowful as the lyrics require. After all that's gone before, this is a disappointing track that coasts along an even keel for most of its playing time.

After the stunning debut, Altar of Plagues have offered up an album that turns out to be surprisingly bloated and even exhausted in parts in spite of its early promise that it would be very different but still passionate and earnest about the prospects for humanity and what it means to be human in a post-apocalyptic world where civilisation is crumbling and all that was considered good and worthy is dying out. The last track especially is a problem as the epic nature of the mostly post-rock music featured makes expression of emotion difficult and limited and this is the one track that really needs it after previous songs that built towards it.

I really hope this album is a hiccup in the band's musical evolution and in a world where post-rock / black metal bands are becoming very common, that Altar of Plagues should pause and reconsider going back to their black metal roots to reclaim their passion and energy.

At this point, I think everyone knows their stand on the whole post rock meet black metal thing and there really isn't much more to be said about its musical and social influence on modern black metal. Excluding the few leaders of the movement who manage to make the fusion work, most of these bands, to me, are just riding along the wave and they are honestly diluting any integrity the style has or could have had. Altar of Plagues is different; they show their influences from this scene but use the sound in much smarter and much darker way. I can listen their music and while hear the wondrous atmosphere of the post rock/'post-metal' sound in one sense but still hear the harsh and vicious sound of black metal in the rest of it. Their use of the two contrasting styles actually merge to create a unique sound in the end, instead of just harping on the juxtaposition of those two genres.

Mammal is their sophomore effort, but this was my first experience with the group. It is clear from this album and from White Tomb that Altar of Plagues are big fans of bringing strong concepts to their writing and to have those ideas very apparent in the music. White Tomb was a straightforward account of the end of days, but Mammal is a far less clear look at the relationship between the creature we call man, and his inevitable meeting with death. If White Tomb was about death on the global scale, then Mammal is about death on the individual level and the music magnificently hones in on those ideas and emotions very well.

The massive opener Neptune is Dead is an obvious standout, starting with some ominous ambiance and bass tones before slowly building up. The feelings I immediately start feeding in from this mere opening section are those of terror and dread, as dark guitar tones wail louder and louder. Then the full group slams into a harsh cluster of hazy tremolo riffing and constant blast beats. The guitars mesh into a dense and sinister wave of tones and distortion that subtlety interweave into a mesmeric pattern of sound. The production is one of the strangest things I have heard, for you can tell that this was recorded extremely well and the mix is clear, but at the same time it is purposefully lo-fi and uses much density. The overall effect is a very abrasive but powerful timbre and it creates an oppressive and bitter atmosphere.

The riffing is extremely minimal, where you can reduce much of what is going on to a single chord, merely smartly flowing through different voicings to create a progression. Less is more and this idea makes the whole song flow well as the same theme and feeling is touched upon in some way at all times. But with Neptune is Dead, the eighteen minute epic goes through profound twists and changes that organically transforms the piece as time goes on. One of the best things about Altar of Plague's writing is their true blending of their various influences. One moment of this is when part way through Neptune is Dead the group hammers on a menacing clean guitar vamp over the distorted tremolo riffs, post rock against black metal, but in a true synthesis of each musical idea into something far more dismal. The presence of that becomes some of the most memorable moments on this album, especially with the harrowing shrieks from the vocalist.

Well as far as I understand, the vocals are traded between the bassist and the guitarist who each have a distinctive sense of execution. The guitarist employs a very free and wild sense of intonation with his tormented howls and cries. He also sounds distant and distressing, as if he has been screaming for ages but still has that bitter strength to scream on. His crazed wails against the bleak and omnipresent guitars within the overall confining sound paints a dark picture of the horrible conflicts with oneself as one faces that single black moment of death. The instinctive fear of personal harm against the higher order fright of facing the end becomes a powerful emotion that is embodied here. The lyrics help too, being very well written as it intelligently portrays much of ones personal struggles facing such extreme truths.

The bassist's vocalist is far more straight forward, but his execution is incredibly powerful and clear. It is evident that he has a real natural ability towards the black metal vocal style; there is a lot of 'umph' in there that reaches a solid high range but more importantly a good midrange to give him that extra sense of power with each scream. Feather and Bone starts on a strange progressive black metal style, going between strange diminished leads to crushing blast beat sections. The bassist's vocals make good work here, really flowing well with frantic pacing of this first half. It fizzles out into a more mellow post rock like second half. But at no point does the 'metal' part stop, as each element dances around each other in an unearthly way.

When The Sun Drowns in the Ocean is easily my favorite track, through and through, and you will know exactly why when you have reached that point in Mammal. It opens eerily with a sample of an old irish woman performing a keening, a type of lament sung at traditional irish funerals. This sort of traditional folk vocals is so incredibly sorrowful and haunting, as the subtle atmospherics build along with it. Then enters a slow ramp up of distant noises, strings, feedback, and various other dissonant sounds. Then once that drums come in, the song goes into a very experimental instrumental piece. While the wild noises flutter about, a constant hard strum from the distorted guitar pushes the music along with some amazing progressive drum patterns. The music eventually runs into this turbulent clash of instruments before dying down into another sample of a (I think) different keening with a different woman singing. The hopelessness in her wails becomes overwhelming as guitar feedback builds and swarms strongly before finally ending. To me this track might as well be the something like the ultimate realization one faces when the light is gone and what is left is only the realm of nothingness, set to music. It certainly sounds that definitive and foreboding.

The drummer is extremely talented, and there are certainly moments where he shows that. In Feather and Bone, he uses some very open and progressive style patterns to support the varied riffing of the guitar parts. He then will drop down on an absolutely pulverizing blast beat or double bass pattern, but in the 6/8 meter that Alter of Plagues tends to use much. In Neptune is Dead, the drums will smartly uses some deceptively simpler beats to ultimately accentuate that hypnotic feel of the track. In All Life Converges to One Centre, all the different ideas presented before are merged together in order for him to really follow well within this epic closure. It opens with a more straightforward black metal section, as more howls from the guitarist makes his final reflections. Lyrically and musically it touches upon the previous themes but in a more open and welcoming way. Its almost like the inner struggles felt before are gone and the only thing left is acceptance. The ending is the most post rock sounding part in this album, layered well with hazy guitar vamping and leads. The end is finally met with a definitive drum fill, like the flame of a candle being snuffed out. Then, silence.

I find this to be such a fantastic release, with both a unique sound and amazing writing supporting such ambitious musical ideas. This is a band who's legitimately pushing for a new style, which is far more to be said compared to many other post rock meets black metal groups. As far as their full lengths go, they haven't disappointed and I am sure they will continue to improve even more in the future. Mammal is a gripping modern black metal record that shouldn't be judged so lightly; if you are into forward thinking metal groups then this should be the next album to pick up.

Words of advice: when you're going to kick off your album with a 19 minute long track, make sure you front load it with some interesting material, or at least some sense that you'll be escalating towards such. It's this very tedium which offers a crippling initiation unto the Altar of Plagues sophomore Mammal, and a flaw that I've found difficult to circumnavigate in subsequent returns to the material. Sure, I can just skip this track and move onto the fluffier, marginally superior remainder of the disc, but it's presence alone ensures that my overall relationship to the Irish band's latest will be fleeting at best. A shame, really, because I've liked much of the band's work up this point, and in particular White Tomb proved a promising specter of spacious, urban black metal which directly addresses the cracks in civilization.

Now, it's not solely that Altar of Plagues compose such lengthy songs that is the problem here. They've done it before, and Mammal has the same four-track configuration as its predecessor. But where White Tomb had this gripping, dark miasma about it that slowly suffocated and drew the listener into its callous concrete folds, "Neptune is Dead" does next to nothing. Ambiance begets a cyclic two note progression that remains the same through the oncoming blast beat, and we're subjected to over three minutes of sameness until another minimalist sequence ensues. Of the 19 minutes of this song, there are maybe two points where it's not empty and droning: the warmer melodic sequence at about 5:30 and the more frenetic tremolo after the eight minute mark. Both are decent, but really, in a song this swollen shouldn't we be able to except something truly amazing to happen? It doesn't.

The rest of the album. Not too shabby. I like the dense, sludgy guitar tones in "Feather and Bone", and the steady muted thrash sequence above which the angst laden vocals bark out and tiny, spooky guitars pan out almost like incidental pianos in a tense horror scene. There's also some tapping in there reminiscent of Gojira, with cleaner vocal accompaniment. The wailing ethnic vocals that open and close "When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean" are compelling, as is the use of creeping strings and looping drums, though this should largely be considered an ambient piece. And "All Life Converges to Some Centre", the last and second longest track is somewhat emotional and expressive black/post-rock sludge with a brief electro-noise finish.

Mammal isn't all that bad, it just takes too long to get anywhere, and much interest is lost in the waiting room. Fans of spatial, wide open post-rock or shoegazer black metal like Deafheaven or Lantlos will undoubtedly find this an absorbing experience, but then for many such folks you could simply juggle 2-3 notes and apply feedback and rasping and it would seem a Renaissance. In truth, despite its few appreciable moments of warmth and texture, this is naught more than the law of averages, a 52 minute journey into emptiness. The lyrics are decent, using a streamlined conceptual appeal (I like the 'horses are rapid and ready' line refrained in two of the tracks), but the vocals delivering them aren't particularly effective. Ultimately, I just didn't wring out the same level of immersion here that I did with the debut, and the appeal of these Irishmen might have reached its plateau.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

A full disclaimer: I am not really all that familiar with the whole "blackgaze" or "hipster black metal" or whatever the fuck it is called. Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room are the only acts connected to this scene I have ever listened to(and very much enjoyed), and beyond the whole Hunter Hunt-Hendrix debacle that was impossible to ignore as it exploded across the internet at speeds that make celebrity sex tapes jealous, I was largely unfamiliar with the players. But this whole review blog thing kind of forces you to open up your musical world a bit, so I thought I would dive into the scene with an album that has been getting a lot of buzz, Mammal, from Ireland based Altar of Plagues. I really had no idea what to expect going in.

Color me impressed... and confused. Confused because I don't hear any black metal here.

Mammal consists of four tracks, and all are finely crafted, musically adventurous mixes of doom, sludge and math Rock. The guitars have an eerily distant and dissonant quality; in fact, all the instruments sound slightly away from the listener, creating a unique effect of distance without being too soft or sounding terrible. All of the instruments are also expertly played, with a nice attention to detail that is greatly appreciated. There are also some wonderful, and often times beautiful, ambient sounds and noises that add to a dark, foreboding atmosphere.

None of this praise equates to black metal however, and I continue to struggle with this: I just don't hear any fucking black metal here. Not in the guitar tone or the riffs. Not in the drumming style, nor in the song composition. And certainly not in the vocals, which are more akin to the post-sludge screams of acts like Isis than Varg or Atilla. In fact, when listening to Altar of Plagues, I hear far more Isis than Emperor, and much more Neurosis than Burzum. This does not detract from the album in any real way, but leads me to question whether black metal suddenly left me behind and evolved into something completely different from what I understood it to be.

Mammal is not perfect. The first song, "Neptune is Dead" drags on near the end, and the vocals never elicit the level of emotion of depth that they seem to be attempting. By far my favorite track "When The Sun Drowns in the Ocean," features several female vocalist singing in a languages I don't recognize, while the yells of vocalist Dave Condon are absent. And while Mammal is certainly impressive and inventive, not all of the various ideas mesh or gel the way the band intended and some fall rather flat.

My confusion will persist for now, as Mammal is both very good and yet devoid of any discernible black metal aspects. The sheer vitriolic hate that some in the black metal community have for bands of this ilk is quite hilarious and alarming, but from my time with this album, may in fact be severely misplaced onto a band not deserving of it as well. Perhaps Altar of Plagues claimed some affiliation with black metal in the past, or toured with Liturgy or something. Regardless, as an inventive progressive metal record, Mammal has the goods.

Rating: 8/10

Altar of Plagues made a name for themselves with 2009’s post-black metal opus “White Tomb”. The album told the tale of environmental collapse through a series of monumental peaks and nerve-racking valleys. It was a massive piece of music whose presence grasped the listener from the get go. The Irish trio’s second full length, “Mammal”, takes a more introverted but nonetheless explosive approach. Instead of vast sonic soundscapes that create an entire world, “Mammal” explores the interworking of tight-knit compositions within hollow atmospheres. The result is quite different from the debut, though equally effective.

On “Mammal”, Altar of Plagues reduces both the post-rock and black metal dimensions of their music, while increasing the amount of progressive sludge, à la Neurosis and Isis. The band sounds quite natural playing in this style. The slow tempo plus the heavy echo on the bass and guitar compliment the sludgy, atmospheric riffs. The vocals are already a cross between a hardcore grunt and a black metal scream, so they easily suit the shift in sound. No one benefits from the shift to a sludgier sound more than drummer Johnny King. “Mammal” marks a major improvement in King’s drumming, as he creates a phenomenal series of looping tribal patterns reminiscent of Neurosis records such as “Enemy of the Sun” and “Through Silver in Blood”.

Like “White Tomb”, “Mammal” consists of four long songs, ranging from 8-18 minutes. The songs bleed into each other giving the album a theatrical arc. The outer tracks are more moody and straight forward. The album opens with the dark and anxious “Neptune is Dead” and closes with tragic, dirge-like “All Life Converges to Some Centre”. The middle two tracks are far more experimental and emotionally obtuse. “Feather and Bone” is a feverish piece, full of pulsating build ups, hypnotizing drum patterns and burning climaxes. “When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean” begins and ends with the sound of an old Irish woman keening (singing a Gaelic song for the dead). Between the keening passages is a mix of arrhythmic percussion and dissonant guitar progressions played at increasingly loud volumes. Overall the album feels like falling in and out of a deep trance.

In addition to impressive music, Altar of Plagues express a powerful message. "White Tomb" and "Mammal" each present us with chilling and honest depictions of the modern condition and its ultimate consequences. “White Tomb” portrays the staggering conclusion of our current lifestyle through intense depictions of social decay and environmental collapse. “Mammal” explores this same processes at the level of the individual. Ultimately, the two albums complement each other—two perspectives on the same story, two challenges to the comfort of our everyday worldview.

(Originally written for http://listenwell-nocturnal.blogspot.com)

There is little arguing the fact that black metal is one of the most puzzling genres in music today, part of this stems from the fact that the standard of writing music for a lot of bands differs and those standards get lumped together in the form of unnecessary,nay at times ridiculous gimmicks. The other part of course is the more refreshing breadth of diversity that the bands within this genre deploy or at least certain bands do. Now why BM is so puzzling is because that said diversity itself has become a bit commonplace and so breaking above that experimentation sea has become a challenge as each year passes. Call that a positive or a negative thing but it does give BM a very unique character as a genre.

With that being said no band should get the impression that the genre is above them,because that is how any artist would limit themselves musically. Irish outfit Altar Of Plagues is just such an example of a band who understand their capabilities and despite being very much "black metal" are wonderfully expansive and diverse in their music. Anyone who has heard White Tomb can testify to this band's sheer intelligence and skill in making music. In all honesty I had thought that White Tomb was a one time run, not to be even matched again especially by the same band, and never have I been more delighted to have been proven wrong. Mammal, their sophomore effort, with its unmatchable mystique proves to be the most hypnotic journey a mind can ever take whether aurally attentive or not. Frankly speaking I still have no idea what kind of character should I lump on this album because it sounds nothing like I have ever heard before. The album makes a bit use of Irish folk but is aesthetically devoid of what you would call the folklore character. It makes use of the raw crushing power of BM but does so with a very minimalistic approach so the most common gimmick of devil imitation is out of question. Kelly in his interview says that this album is more an introspective meditation on death, on how it is the destination of existence. Had I heard that interview before listening to the album I would have called it pretentious instantly, but listening to this, well lets just say that this music sounds just as unknown and ethereal is death is.

The music itself is an enigma to behold which is nothing less than what this band is capable of. Cascading guitar work and solid bass flowing with a varied style of speed and power, always bearing their might but just about maintaining some sense of fluidity with melody. To a more imaginative mind this might seem like watching a river from the sight of afterlife,flowing with ravaging speed at an instance then slowing down the next. Fitting perhaps because the concept in place is death. Furthermore the atmosphere is only magnified by the bombastic use of the drums. I say bombastic but these too are tastefully on show. Like a rumble of boulders they slow down with the river and speed up accordingly, they even provide that tasteful repetitive fills that make the music so hypnotic,such a joy to listen to. The final piece of the puzzle are those screeches that finishes the murky portrait being painted here with an unmistakeable flourish.

Though not easily apparent;progression thrives along the album, from clean droning passages to neurotic climaxes, the whole album never loosens its grip upon the mind. There is that delightful sense of maturity present, though these artists are young comparatively, maturity that makes the music break above the ranks of just mere black metal. Even though the tone of the music is quite dark and gloomy, the aesthetic presented here is more of mystique and mystery than of melancholy. A sense of inevitability presented in musical philosophy, but daring to be simple instead of irrtrievably complex. An unmistakeable zenith of musical expression.

Altar of Plagues is a rising star in the burgeoning post-black metal scene. Their highly-anticipated second full-length, Mammal, was released last month.

Much like the terms "black metal" and "post metal" can describe any number of widely varying styles, "post-black metal" is such a woefully inadequate way to describe this style of music. Why is it only death metal gets a billion different sub-sub-genre descriptors? Altar of Plagues produces time-stretching music with depressing emotional impact. That's the key.

Black metal is only one element of the sonic palette, with the rasping vocals and occasional tremolo picking or dissonant chord. Other times, they use purely ambient soundscapes, or, in the more melodic moments, they sound quite a bit like Tool. They stretch time by gradually adding in and subtracting different elements, but otherwise lulling the listener into a trance. The impact of the music is felt because of their heavy reliance on--and mastery of--the loud/quiet/loud dynamic.

But a detailed description of what the music sounds like really does a disservice to what they're trying to accomplish. This is not a technical piece, or a scholarly work of analysis. You just need to know enough to know that this is a worthwhile record. If the above elements have ever impacted you, then this record will likely deliver. It's a very good example of the style. If this type of music does nothing for you, there's nothing particularly new about it to change your mind.

The Verdict: Altar of Plagues aren't reinventing the post-black wheel that they helped to invent in the first place, and Mammal is not so amazing that it raises the bar. Instead, it's a firm statement that this band can reach that bar when they please.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

There is a tide coming and it is sweeping clean the regimentation of black metal. On the back of 2009's excellent "White Tomb" LP (rereleasedlast year) comes Altar of Plagues second full-length, the intriguingly titled "Mammal". Resting on the base of organic, lengthy compositions that was seen previously, AoP have this time cut down on the post-apocalyptical drone doom that permeated the second half of "White Tomb" to instead transpose a mixture of emotionally charged spoken-word and slower, earthly black metal. This is BM very much as we known it but devoid of it's theatrics and falsities…

19-minute opener "Neptune Is Dead" crashes into life after a lengthy atmospheric introduction with the kind of hypnotic riffs and pounding drumbeat that has been key to the rise of other 'post-BM' acts like Wolves in the Throne Room and Wodensthrone. Besides this however AoP do not lack for their own cutting edge as the post-metal dynamic borne in the likes of Cult of Luna, Bossk and Neurosis plays a considerable role through "Feather and Bone". In an album of 4 tracks spanning 51 minutes the Irish act do rather well to keep the momentum flowing and attention resolute. Why might this be, you ask? The clean vocals used with good effect at varying points help create a nice contradiction to the hoarse rasp at home in the sharper moments of "All Life Converges To Some Centre", and let's not forget the countless riffs converging together with such great conviction in every track that it is impossible not to feel effected by the goings-on here.

"When the Sun Drowns in the Ocean" opens and concludes with the haunting wailing vocals of an unknown lady (to myself at least) which bookend the slowest and most obvious divergence from traditional BM in the album, while it is closer "All Life Converges To Some Centre" that cements in the mind the image of decaying human existence, not the more cliched dark Scandinavian forest. Altar of Plagues emerge from the shroud a band capable of creating breathtaking, yet harsh beauty and it's results that suggests they are fully intent of pushing BM into directions we could not have imagined just a few years ago.

Originally written for www.Rockfreaks.net