MORTUALIA - Wild, Wild Misery
MORIBUND RECORDS
I've heard this release before and if you own at least a quarter of the Moribund catalog then so have you. Almost every depressive black metal act in their catalog sounds similar to this. Toss in the fact that this is the ongoing solo project by Shatraug, who's been in such great Finnish black metal acts over the years, then yeah the sound and frosty tone is like family. There's not much difference from this and his last one, Blood of the Hermit, sound-wise at least. The last one contained five cuts all over ten minutes in length and trust me after six minutes his riffs got repetitive.
On his latest Shatraug hands up eight cuts all under the ten minute mark which is smart. While I thought his previous effort was almost soul draining, Wild, Wild Misery sounds quite upbeat. But hey I always feel better when decent black metal is playing. As far as some of his better known Finnish black metal acts go, this touches closer to his early work in HORNA. It's the cold atmospheric tone that carries you along. Hey you can be freezing your ass off out in the cold but if you start walking you'll forget about the cold. It's the same principle here in the music.
Wild, Wild Misery starts off at slightly upbeat melodic pace but quickly succombs to depressive blackened doom hypothermia. But like I started out saying, I've heard it all before. You've got plenty of depressive themes working here such as feelings of isolation, shrieks of anguish from the nether regions, hypnotic riffs that can also induce sleep and of course gloomy hopelessness. What's ironic is that Shatraug lives in the city of Tampere, a very crowded place by Finnish standards. One wonders why he could be so depressed while living in a place with all the amenities.
So is Wild, Wild Misery any good? Well sure but whatever musical project Shatraug has had his hands in has been good. So that's not really saying much. Does it hit the BURZUM-esque mark? Well of course but without all the Tolkien reference. Better yet since I love my Finnish black metal then of course I give this my seal of approval.
Rating: 4/5
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