Misanthropy

Misanthropy is the aptly-titled 4th album from another sweet Polish outfit calling themselves Pandemonium, and a brief glimpse at their history reveals that they’ve been puttering around since 1990, under both this moniker and that of Domain, under which they also released 3 albums. Well, this is their newest, and the first I’ve ever heard, or heard of, this cadre of lunatics. I’m pleased to say it is also a bit indefinable, in terms of genre, which is always interesting. However, in breaking down its constituent influences, one can hear strong emanations of both death and black, but with spiritual intonations of doom. Misanthropy is an unnerving experience, bathed in black slime and leering menacingly at you from its oddly beautiful boudoir, a place wreathed in sickness and stirring with the occult. There is a heavy eastern influence, calling pyramids and ancient horrors to mind as it creeps into your consciousness, tendrils wriggling with ominous delight. The supreme evil in its avant-garde nature reminds me of the mighty Akercocke, in spirit if not sound, but more fitting comparisons might be Septic Flesh, or even more appropriately, Ava Inferi, but this is far more filthy than any of them.

Right out the straight-jacket, Misanthropy oozes atmosphere. The Black Forest is a treacherous mid-paced gust of blackened melodies and grotesque, drawling vocals, like Peter from Vader if he ate an ounce of bad mushrooms. In fact, the vocals all over this album are insane, a varied and tortured array of growls, rasps, snarls, and even some tasteful female additions. The only problem with this is often the complete lack of enunciation, as the monstrous quality makes it largely impossible to follow along with the lyric sheet, a consistent irritation. However, the vocal styles add so much to the album’s prevalent oozing decrepitude that it matters little.

God Delusion is a murky swamp of hefty, trudging riffs, really serving to draw you into the bands nightmarish world. Necro Judas oozes venom as it crawls along, the drums a show of pure finesse, the guitars rising like a cobra out of the low end muck, circling with hate radiating from it gaze. Stones Are Eternal almost has a swarthy black and roll feel to its inaugural strumming, before a chorus of madness claims your mind. The arabesque female vocals hang poignantly above the morass of ghastly growls and dry serpentine hisses, like some demonic snake charmer summoning her minions to come and devour your shivering soul. I also especially like the titular closer, a panoramic view of avian middle-eastern leads and more haunted female vocals, like a goddess of the desert soaring above the harsh, unforgiving, endless sands. I think you get the point by now, and truly, each of the 8 tracks here is like a glimpse into different rooms in the same homicidal, fecal-smeared insane asylum. It’s very tense, and very unsettling, almost inhumanly so, and these slimy depths are countered magnificently by the hefty, uplifting ‘ancient Egypt’ sections.

Misanthropy is a real treat, an absolute win for anybody interested in extreme metal with impenetrable atmosphere and an ear for stirring, poisonous melodies. I especially enjoy how unique these emanations are, truly akin only in my experience to Ava Inferi, but so much more psychotic and violent… not physically, but mentally, which is much more intrusive and poignant. They utilize the overlaying melodies and drawling, wretched vocals to maximum effect, and this stands as one of most uniquely virulent releases of the year, subtly working its way into your consciousness like a sweet sickness, until you can’t help but yield to its prevalent, diseased charm.

-Left Hand of Dog
http://reaperdivision.blogspot.com/

A while back, Godz ov War Productions sent me the two-song 2010 promo from Polish blackened death metallers Pandemonium. It sounded pretty good, being a well-recorded but mostly un-produced demo from a long-established band that sounded like . . . well, they sounded like a Polish death metal band.

Color me surprised at how much better this music sounds on fourth full-length Misanthropy. It's no longer a band that sounds just like a mid-point between Vader and Behemoth. Instead, they've slowed things down to mostly mid-tempo, and worked on the production to get an eerie, otherworldly sound enhanced by the slight vocal distortion.

They do suffer a bit from premature ejaculation, putting their best track first, but what a song "The Black Forest" is. I swear that riff sounds familiar, but wherever it's from, this version is really sticking with me. (Maybe the promo version I heard several months ago is the reason it's familiar.) But that's not the only memorable cut on here, as the doomy "Necro Judas" and the punky "Avant-Garde Underground" are choice.

I hate to keep making comparisons to the same band, given yesterday's review [of Lurk], but there is also a distinct Triptykon influence. The Swiss band is evoked in Pandemonium's atmospheric but still riff-based sound, as well as the occasional female vocal (such as on the title track).

The Verdict: It's amazing to see how far a band can come from the demo to the finished product. While it's not a big-name, thick and heavy production job, it still sounds great. This finished product is very much worth your while.

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

I think “Misanthropy” was one of the most anticipated albums on the Polish metal scene in the past few months. All in all Pandemonium is not your average band, but one, which was formed in the glorious time of early 90’s and gained a lot of respect and – I think I can say so – a cult status after several albums that were released through the years. And even despite the fact that the band didn’t avoid putting one or two less inspiring albums, they belong to the most respected Polish bands anyway. So I cannot imagine a metal maniac (at least a Polish one), who doesn’t know such releases as “Devilri”, “The Ancient Catatonia” or (Domain’s) “…Into Oblivion”. It is enough reasons, I think, to get enthusiastic about “Misanthropy”, as well as to the fact that Pandemonium seems to be stronger than ever before in their career. So, fingers crossed for the awesome music and I play the album, at the same time looking suspiciously on the cover, thinking “what the hell? Is that Batman on it or what?” hehe!!

Anyway, already the first listen proved that Pandemonium is an exceptional band and their new album was more than just engaging and killer experience. Definitely I can say that I like a lot what I’ve heard on it, especially because the band has kept their original style from one hand and from the other they evolved and introduced some elements into their music, which turned it into something awesome – and luckily it is not so controversial or annoying as the elements with which Pandemonium has broadened their style on “The Zonei” CD. The music of Pandemonium has expanded a sort of ritualistic atmosphere in many parts, something what sounds truly dark, sinister and gloomy, as well as disturbing, but at the same time it is dangerously catchy and memorable. It is the way the band leads us through their songs: it’s their composition, the way these songs are built and how Pandemonium plays the riffs… all these minor but successful details, many of which are truly original and which put the band a step forward if comparing “Misanthropy” to the previous efforts, result in a successful album.

Pandemonium gained all that (uniqueness) thanks to great, almost epic riffs, hypnotising rhythms, repetitive parts, keyboards’ interludes and... hmm, I’m quite fascinated by some of the melodic parts from “Misanthropy”, I mean they’re really capturing the essence of darkened and hateful black / death metal and sometimes I’m surprised but they even remind me Watain’s way of playing melodic riffs (even though stylistically both bands are pretty far from each other). In many ways I have a feeling that finally Pandemonium started to get rid of the shadow of Samael in the music – or at least it is not as obvious as it was in the past – and also the similarities to Christ Agony are smaller. Instead they often start to remind the best what Greece has to offer (along with their ancient mythology of course!) – and I mean their cult bands of course. Septic Flesh, Rotting Christ, Necromantia… you know them well, I hope. Some traces of these bands can be found here in the atmosphere and the music of “Misanthropy” – which, if you ask me, is great! And I don’t mean that just because Pandemonium has used the help of Androniki Skoula, a female vocalist, known from Chaostar and Septic Flesh! By the way, the use of female vocalist in Pandemonium may be the most controversial of all ideas, which the band has used on “Misanthropy”, personally though I don’t care, as long as the result is fine and in this case it turned out to be truly engaging and awesome. I especially like what they have done in (the title song) “Misanthropy” – this track really has a stunning atmosphere, one which I can even compare to Behemoth’s “Lucifer”, although Pandemonium has done way more sorrowful and epic. And there are also some more oriental, Middle-Eastern influences within Pandemonium music, but that’s something what you should be used to already (they already appeared on “Devilri” demo I think), even though I must say that Pandemonium never has broadened them so much as on “Misanthropy”.

Of course Pandemonium does not base their music fully on those experimental, avant-garde and melodic ways of playing. They do not forget about the necessary dose of aggression, which is delivered equally from death and black metal styles and composed into one, great musical monument (although, when comparing “Misanthopy” to “Hellspawn”, I must admit that Pandemonium do not fastens their music anymore, this time you won’t hear any blast beats, which is OK, as they would spoil the mood of the music too much I think). And of corpse we cannot forget about the always present doom metal traces, which are coming from the slowest and most mournful parts of the album (listen to “Necro Judas” and “Stones Are Eternal”!!!!!!!!). The opening song, which is titled “The Black Forest” is vicious and sinister blackened piece, which I dare to say has a lot in common with what Celtic Frost did on their “Monotheist” LP! But even more traces of that Frost’s album’s influence are hearable in the mentioned “Stones Are Eternal”. “God Delusion” continues this sort of playing, in most obscure of all ways, also joining together the ghastly riffing with a lot of melody and mournful atmosphere. Arghhh, really great, but forgive me, I’m not going to describe every song from “Misanthropy”. Each one of them has something great and unique to offer, so it’s better just to listen to it than read about it, right?

And an extra word should be mentioned on the vocals, which are quite diverse. Paul of course has his specific voice and way of articulation, but along with this, there are more shrieking vocal parts, almost ghoulish voices (mainly in “Necro Judas”), there’s spoken vocal part (in the title song) and of course there’s the presence of Androniki Skoula. Finally the production is also top notch, so in the end it turns out that I have nothing to complain on. I truly think that “Misanthropy” is probably the biggest achievement of Pandemonium so far and one, which may be very difficult to outdo. This is great album, I have nothing more to add. Get it, if you have some respect for yourself and give praise to these Polish legends!
Standout tracks: “Misanthropy”, “Necro Judas”, “Stones Are Eternal”, “The Black Forest”

Blackened death metal has also, to me, seemed like a genre much less appreciated or widespread as other genres like death, black or thrash metal. Only a select few bands like Belphegor, Zyklon, Akercocke, Behemoth and to some extent God Dethroned and Necrophobic have gotten "big" in the scene.

Like their fellow Polish country-men in Behemoth the four man large band Pandemonium play blackened death metal with an emphasis on the death metal part. Also, like Behemoth their current sound is very modern with a huge focus on good production. I could go on about how it kinda sounds like Pandemonium wants to be Behemoth, but instead I will try to let the album "Misanthropy" speak for itself.

The songwriters of Pandemonium do have a certain knack for writing some genuinely enjoyable metal, but only rarely does the music exceed the relatively high standards created by other bands of the genre. While the great production certainly does good things for the band I can't help but feel that there are several things not quite up to par. For instance the vocals are tremendously lacklustre and mostly sound like the drunken ravings of a homeless vodka-enthusiast.

Another thing that bothered me was that Pandemonium seem to be stuck in one tempo. Almost all songs run in the vicinity of the same speeds, and only rarely does the band leave their apparent comfort zone and speed things up a little. This has the effect that most of the tracks can be very hard to distinguish between, and the songs don't really have the necessary build-up to create an actual climax.

Among the highlights of the album could be mentioned the fifth song "Avant-Garde Underground" which has a really memorable riff and is probably also one of the more atypical efforts on Misanthropy along with the melodic tracks "Only the Dead Will see the End of War" and "Misanthropy", which feature some juicy ancient-ish sounding stuff.

All in all Pandemonium's fourth album isn't that bad. Like I mentioned earlier it's a pretty good compilation of what the band themselves call "Satanic Dark Metal", but I think Misanthropy lacks the spirit and enthusiasm that made Behemoth big.

Originally written for http://gouls-crypt.blogspot.com/

Polish black/death merchants Pandemonium have been at this game for a while now. One of the first extreme metal acts to materialize from Poland they’ve been in existence for somewhere around twenty years now. They identify their sound with the rather meaningless tag ‘Satanic Dark Metal’, where in reality they play a hybrid of crisp black and death Metal bound together with a variety of external influences and a touch of ambiguity. I wouldn’t go so far as to describe it ‘avant-garde’ but it’s certainly not your average extreme metal release.

Misanthropy contains a foundation which basically knits the ugly and bizarre black metal lunacy of De Mysteriis... era Mayhem with the distinctive crunch of Polish Death Metal icons Vader. The final sound is something which is actually not too dissimilar to Triptykon, albeit not quite as obscure and outlandish. The album actually commences in rather stunning fashion, “The Black Forest” smashes in with its thick groove laden riffs, tight drumming and some rather strange vocals all finished off with some excellent soloing.

The vocal work from Paul throughout ranges from a deranged deep death guttural to a higher pitched black metal-esque drawl while the guitar work is for the most part heavy and clinical with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the face. The drumming though is for me the standout aspect of this release, Szymon blasts and tears through Misanthropy without ever giving an inch and injects some much needed vitality in what would otherwise for the most part be a slightly above average release.

The previously mentioned “The Black Forest” or “Stones Are Eternal” and the title track with their exotic and unorthodox Middle-Eastern undercurrent more than slightly brings visions of Rotting Christ and Melechesh to the forefront of your mind. “Avant-garde Underground” for me though is the pick of the bunch, with its ridiculously simple yet catchy riffing and obnoxious slant it’s almost punk-like in its delivery. Unfortunately it just can’t keep up this level of quality though, aside from those mentioned though the album is just merely average. There’s brutality and blasphemy abound, but not that cutting edge to elevate this to the next level.

Certainly on the first few spins while evident Misanthropy wasn’t going to transcend any new boundaries, it was an entertaining and stimulating listen, but as for its replay value I’m not too sure because eventually a certain tedium did appear to set in. Still though, for those that prefer their black or death Metal (this should appeal to both schools) an oppressive, vulgar mid-paced procession with the focus heavily centred on the riffs this is recommended. For others I would suggest approaching with a little more caution.

With a band name which has been used six times, and an album name that's been used 20 times, it shouldn't be a huge surprise to see that this band isn't exactly smashing their way through the boundaries of metal. Misanthropy, the project's fourth offering since forming twenty odd years ago is a very safe sounding record. It's mid paced, it isn’t really harsh in any particular way, nor does it unfold with any sort of desperation, nor is it challenging to the listener's sensibilities; this is just a simple, catchy, slowly chugging album with some crazed vocals and a few cool lead parts layered over the top.

This is my first taste of Pandemonium, and whatever their past held Misanthropy consists of a style of very simple, very groovy and infectious, kinda deathy metal with a fair few hints of black and occasionally doom touching around the edges. The concept on it's own certain holds a lot of promise, but the band is so focussed on being catchy and getting rhythmic grooves going that the wealth of little hints of genres they take inspiration from never get played up to anything of importance beyond a little bit of window dressing. I guess this could count as being similar to the groove based, not quite doomy groove/black of bands like Ruins or the new Sear Bliss album, but the black metal content is even less. Pandemonium are also a lot better. Unlike those groups, this actually is pretty effective in getting you to go along with the meandering march that the music takes, mostly thanks to the awesome vocals of the terrifyingly named "Paul" and the massive guitar and drum sound here. At times, such as the massively lumbering Stones Are Eternal it borders on doom, but the general movement of the band is more of an easy to nod along with march rather than a doomy plod or stomp. I guess it could be put in the same sort of catagory as post-reunion Celtic Frost, big and simple, heavy, very slow song progressions with a little bit of other extreme metal sprinkled on it, but at the same time it never gets quite as soft and gothic, nor as slow and doomy.

These guys do have a pretty good ear for their little black metal touches in the lead guitar work, and while they're not often overt the band executes both melodic and more grisly black metal touches well. This does give the album a little bit of atmosphere to go along with the chugging pounding, but any sort of mood setting is usually quite overwhelmed by the rhythm guitar. As such the big draw and dominating factor of this album quite simple: Big grooves and awesome multi-tracked vocals. The opener and closers are probably the only exception to this rule, the former featuring a bit less grooving punch and a bit more black metal in the riffs, and the later really showing what the band's sound could feasibly produce. The song Misanthropy tones down the rhythm guitar a little while still keeping the grooving march going, but adding a sprawling lead over it which honestly reminds me of the stuff Ahab has been focussing on of late but much more exciting and impressive, then it's all topped off with some ripping wailed female vocals with a slightly ethnic bent.

For the main part there is only one vocalist, offering up a multitude of shrieks, murky roars and grunts and other various deranged noises. Not a huge range in any department, but enough to impress overall. He uses a lot of multi tracking, so if you're against that, look away, but it’s done well to create quite an overpowering cacophony which helps keep this from being a groove metal album for all the little kids. On occasion there are some muddied clean vocals to mix it up, and on two tracks there is some input from an excellently performed crazed female voice, which while operating in that sort of operatic style is delivered with a frenzied disregard to traditional melody resulting in the same sort of effect as the harsh vocals. If anything, she sounds more like a theramin than a standard big female voice.

This is a far from perfect album, and could do with either some riffs that function to be more than a crawling rhythm to be latched onto and function as something to be impressed by in their own right, or some more flat out doom or fast black or death metal to even it out, but it is certainly good, and is well worth a listen if only for how well the vocals work with the music offered. They've got their own little niche sound really well figured out, but it has a lot of directions to go that don't get explored fully, a fact which is made strikingly clear in the amazing closing number, which honestly makes the rest of the album sound positively low brow and aimless in comparison. Still, it's big, it's fun, it has good vocals and a good sound, and one song I would deem to be unmissable, and is overall well worth your time..

I admit I don't know a lot about this 20+ year, long-term Polish extremity's early work, either as Pandemonium or their years under the moniker Domain. However, I found their 2007 album Hellspawn to be quite a refreshing hybrid of the black and death metal genres which harbored a peculiar, exotic flavor to it. This sense of ethnic and atmospheric worldliness has been carried forward for their latest full-length, simply labeled Misanthropy. We're not talking Therion here, or Hollenthon, but a strong use of female guest vocals, and melodic, arabesque guitar lines that lend an impressive edge to the material which begs for repeated experience. However, even these eclectic tendencies here must take a bow and stand aside for the true star of the album: the intense contrast created by the overbearing and entertaining vocals (both growled and rasped).

Pandemonium focuses on rather simplistic, moody black metal structures but then covers them in this enormous, tortured voices that instantly increase the effectiveness of the riffs below them. Often they'll use a whispered, central drawl and then layer it with rasps on one end and painful growls on the other, but there is this constant, pervasive sense that you're being flanked by a panoply of psychopaths who are warning you of the End of Days, and it's admittedly quite frightening, even if a few aspects like the more repressed rasp-like vocal is nothing innovative. The drumming is loaded, with a lot of muscular mid-paced rhythms driven by brick-like double bass that support the guitars like pillars in hell. There's a surprising level of melody here for a band so dark and oppressive, often culled through the traditional use of tremolo picking but also in the glint of some of the cement chords, and thus tracks like "God Delusion" or "The Black Forest" convey a very full-bodied balance of both torture and obscure beauty. The bass does seem to get a little lost under the staggering weight of the guitars, but it's not inaudible.

It's a little hard to place the band comparatively: I was as often reminded of a usual suspect like Mayhem as I was of the bombast of Finnish bands Barathrum or Ajattara, but inevitably they have something distinct happening here which involves a bit of death metal undercurrent (especially in "Everlasting Opposition") or even some morbid, apocryphal doom drudgery in songs like "Necro Judas". The aforementioned female vocal lines are affixed to the gutturals in "Stones Are Eternal", and create this implacable bazaar of darkness that lurches into a miasma salacious snarling and mighty, grooving guitars that perfectly carry and collapse the mystique. At one point, the vocalist Paul is retching out these resonant gutturals in a sort of percussive pattern which sounds almost like Peter from Vader. Massive and stunning, this is probably the best song on the album and one of the best I've heard lately, almost like a clash between Triptykon and Barathrum with better vocals. But really, the whole album draws you in like a serpent charmer while it lasts. Many of the riffing progressions might not seem that intriguing individually, but Misanthropy as a whole proves a harrowing experience that I'm not like to forget any time soon.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com