DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS
"Plurima Mortis Imago"
Musical visions seem to be increasingly geared towards the East, and it's not just about Death Metal. Another band has come from the Polish scene after the brilliant DARZAMAT amongst others and is making a impact with a decent bit of Black Metal. DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS is the name of the illustrious group of Polish exiles whose home is now in London, and with their first label release “ Plurima Mortis Imago ” want to convince us of their quality … sorry, of their diabolical malice.
These guys don't make a bad job of it either, for overall we can feel the chill from the ice-cold and dark atmosphere of the album, we are enthralled by the brutal riffs and reminded of something horrible, while the keyboards lay out misty soundscapes and the listener meanwhile is overtaken by demonic screaming. The riffs are borrowed to a large degree from the sphere of Death Metal, which when seen in the context of symphonies and typically Black Metal keyboard sounds and the equally blackened metal voices constitutes an aural contradiction which casts a shadow over the whole work. That's potentially a disadvantage but the listener can wallow in the raw power and aggression which emanate from most of the songs. This can be said for instance of the highly promising “Dracula's Mechanized Universe”, a template of symphonic Black Metal, or the in many ways climatic final track “SataniChaoSymphony”, which draws on the whole catalogue of rasping strings, thrashing drums and cacophony of screams which are there to delight any friend of Black-rooted music. In addition to this dazzling production there is a … let's say interesting video with the cd.
But it's not all entirely good news. Many of the passages are strikingly similar to each other, and where some might see it as a central theme running through, others may point to monotony.
The split between Death riffs and Black presentation is not always convincing and leaves behind an indefinably unsatisfactory feeling. And I can only see the label's vaunted claim of Avant-Garde Black Metal realised in the utilisation of choral passages and the promising solos which are widely spread through the piece. Together with the production, which comes across as raw but is far from being impressive, these are minor faults, but one thing can't be obscured: DEVILISH IMPRESSIONS have delivered a convincing label debut album, which will appeal to most people who are into ambitious Black Metal.