Insidious Omen: Anointed With the Blood of Chaos

Reviewing modern black metal is often a somewhat tricky proposition. While there's an inevitable instinct to critique a work in the context of its times, the spirit of traditionalism that seems integral to most black metal acts often renders that perspective highly subjective in its value. Over the recent past, there have been several attempts to bridge both worlds, with the French and US local scenes attempting to fuse more modern, experimental ideas with the traditional black metal vision of total bleakness. Canadian black metal, while still something of a novelty, has been carving a niche for itself, roughly modeling itself on the success of its American counterparts, led by acts like Wolves In The Throne Room and Xasthur. Hailing from Edmonton, Alberta, Insidious Omen offer a roughly similar vision as many of their neighbours, producing a blend of traditional, violent black metal tempered by a modern spirit of experimentation. While their present offering, Anointed With The Blood of Chaos was originally self-released by the band as a cassette EP, it is now set to obtain a new lease of life, scheduled to be released by Finnish label Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions.

Spanning almost 30 minutes within the scope of just three songs, Anointed With The Blood of Chaos presents a somewhat revised take on traditional black metal, channeled through extended structures, the shortest song still clocking at eight and a half minutes. Every expected element is on full display here, from the trademark buzzsaw guitars awash with thick reverb, to the drums hammering away blast beats relentlessly. The riffs are suitably ominous, offering the vocals a steady foundation to rasp atop, in a satisfyingly disembodied fashion. Opener 'Serpents Gate (Thus Malkuth be Reborn)' offers a sampling of Insidious Omen have to offer, starting with two minutes of eerie, ghoulish moans before descending into a cavern of dank, murky, mid-paced black metal, before slowing down to a doomish crawl, replete with jarring, ringing guitar riffs and Bzath's anguished screeches. Darkness is the key word here, as the prime discernable emotion permeating the record, as Insidious Omen tear through sprawling compositions that are almost single-minded in their primary concern.

The problem lies in the fact that the vision itself, though, is not remarkably far from what the genre has come to be known for. Through the duration of the EP, a nagging problem rears its head - there's scarcely a distinguishing factor between the songs themselves. Granted, Insidious Omen seem to have some original ideas thrown around within the sparse ambient sections, but the feeling that the band is grossly underutilising these elements is hard to shake off. By the time the final track, 'Through Stone and Steel the Flesh Speaks Deceit' churns through its length duration, Anointed With The Blood of Chaos betrays the admission of having hit a creative wall. The riffs turn repetitive and begin to fall into the background, while the consistently battering drumming begins to flag in its appeal, severely neutering the impact of the band's sonic assault. The short ambient sections that make several appearances over the EP release the tension somewhat, and serve as much-needed breaks through the wall of darkness that the songs generally present. The compositional shortcoming here appears to be a lack of general dynamics and variety in the songwriting, something especially apparent by the final track.

While Insidious Omen certainly have their hearts in the right place with this release, it's a matter of considerable concern that the band veers into monotony within the span of just 30 minutes. Anointed With The Blood of Chaos takes up a noble cause, and carries the torch with considerable conviction, but ultimately fails to hold even the keenest listener's attention through its duration. With several compositional reconsiderations and changes, the band's ability to conjure convincingly dark, murky black metal could be just the kick the Canadian black metal wave needs.

Track list:
1. Serpents Gate (Thus Malkuth Be Reborn)
2. Feasting at the Trough of Lies
3. Through Stone and Steel the Flesh Speaks Deceit

Added: March 28th 2011
Reviewer: Daniel Rego
Score:
Related Link: Band BlogSpot
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Language: english

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