Creeping Creepiness Creeps Back!
Michael E. Mitchell | Minocqua, WI USA | 02/24/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Don't know if or if not I got gypped on this; I have a copy without the bonus track "Sycamore Trees", which is apparently a cover of an Angelo Badalamenti song? However, even without that "Ylem" stands out as perhaps the best album of this very young year. And I don't say such things lightly (I usually agonize very much over which is "best of year X"). While the previous album "Eidolon" with new vocalist Morean was excellent, it was more straight-forward than the brilliant 2 albums that came before (the uncanny "Stab Wounds" and the unbelievable "Seance", both of which are MANDATORY Black MeTal albums, unless you're a necro-elitist snob who eschews anything not done in a Scandinavian bedroom and sold to more than 99 people). "Ylem" combines the punch of "Eidolon" with the serpentine morbidity of the mandatory albums, coming quite close to capturing their CREEPY tone and outre' arrangments. Morean demon-strates new personalities in his vocals, not out-creeping old vocalist Azathoth, but adding a few new dimensions to make for a great variety of screaming, growling, moaning, whispering, shrieking, gurgling, howling, choking, and....singing. Yes, you WILL hear him (at least I think it's him!as far as I can tell from the liner notes) SINGING on "Evenfall". And before you cry "sell outs!", the singing is very mournful and deep, not some whiny emo-style of what passes for modern metal in america (you know, growling, singing/whining, growling, singing/whining the catchy chorus, then angst-ridden shouting, then back to the former formulae...). But that is just one facet of the successful additions to Dark Fortress' repertoire. I found the drumming to be novel enough to catch my attention, acting in some cases as an additional "riff" in the songs. We hear some spook-house keyboards (keyboards, while integral to Dark Fortress' sound, are not overpoweringly used), including a hithertofore unheard-by-me sound. Bass is an instrument played by someone but rarely heard (typical in this genre!). The guitars have that signature, hollow almost muted strangulated sound that V. Santura has honed over the years. I can tell it is a Dark Fortress song just by his guitar tone. The production is fantastically clear and pummeling. Before I get to the one negative about this album, let me say that there is a much more diverse ammo-clip of songs on here than "Eidolon", ranging from rapid fire frenetics to slower, more chunky riffs/passages, to almost ballad-esque approaches. Not a "one-speed" album. The proper album closer, "Wraith", has more actual SINGING on it, but this time by someone named Mortal (whose origin I couldn't discover)...it is a melancholy and HEAVY song, but may wrankle some Black MeTal purists. Also heartfelt credit is given to Santura for his heartfelt playing of the solo in "The Valley", which wouldn't even have to be spelled out to MeTal purists as a tribute to Quorthon. THE NEGATIVE? Not much, just that the album cover/artwork is that clunky "symmetry" artwork so often employed by bands......you know, a mirror image on each side, seperated down the center. Trite. But this is the ONLY "flaw" associated with "Ylem"! A welcome return to their True Creepiness/MeTal formula!!!"
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1