Mamaleek: Out of Time

Black metal is often one dimensional. You normally get a mix of Latin-language tinted devils, demons or diabolical agents running around mocking society, family and religion. A couple of growls, grunts and throw in a “Satan� and you have a typical black metal genre track. Mamaleek set out to do something entirely different. This band is attempting to create genuine Black Metal Art. They may be the first band to truly pull off this unusual experiment.

Reference the track “Sicarii� a moody slow-pounding synth piece melding Nine Inch Nails with Celtic Frost and Mike Oldfield a la “tubular bells� haunting theme. The ironic twist being the sicarii were a splinter jewish zealot group of assassins predating better known assassin groups the Hashishin and the Ninjas by centuries. Their dark supposedly righteous hatred and murder campaign against the Romans is a frightening pretext to modern day terrorism.

Most traditional black metal enthusiasts will confess they listen for the shock value of devil destruction, regular profanity and blazing guitars but Mamaleek is working on a new theory of black metal that isn’t often metal but creepy hybrids of sounds you don’t expect. Pink Floyd becomes Black Floyd in “Tree Sonorous� replete with mumbling low-tone vocals. “God is the Irrational Number� is a California hip-hop beat mixed with Norwegian metal influences for a track I can honestly say I have never even conceived before let alone listened to-----purely original.

Mid-album “Doomed Beast� opens with a scary motley crue-like occultic invocation and then moves to reggae rhythms and guttural annunciations of beasts and Babylon sort of like Jimmy Cliff meets Jimmy Hendrix and a bag of dark magic spells. In “My Master, My Father, My Author� you are splashed with steel drum beach music framed inside slow tempo industrial Ministry influences combined with otherworldly worship of sea deities.

“Almost Dead Dog� continues the Ministry homage without the steel drums but instead pairs with a lead guitar and vocal reminiscent of The Doors and the torture of a man facing capital punishment. The final track “At the Shrine of That Freedom Whose Cause You Had Betrayed� hauls out an Indian sitar and an acoustic guitar and precedes to conduct an eerie four-minute instrumental. I don’t remember listening to an album that ended in such an anticlimactic fashion that you begin to question the band’s devotion to darkness but never their unwavering penchant for artistic statements that form a musical kaleidoscope capable of taking you back to the era when some albums could only be heard in a great set of headphones. This is one of those gems.

Track list
1. If I Had This Time 1:18
2. Sicarii 4:14
3. Tree Sonorous 5:35
4. God is the Irrational Number 5:38
5. The Recompense is Real 6:07
6. Doomed Beast 3:51
7. Out of Love 4:43
8. Lapis Lazuli 1:29
9. Where is the Friend’s House? 4:25
10. My Master, My Father, My Author 4:47
11. The Last is the First 4:04
12. Almost Dead Dog 2:39
13. Absolute Knowing 3:36
14. At the Shrine of That Freedom Whose Cause You Had Betrayed 4:37

Added: October 10th 2018
Reviewer: Mark Antony Rossi
Score:
Related Link: The Flenser
Hits: 1190
Language: english

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