Essenz: Mundus Numen

Occult metallers Essenz have brought to us their second album, Mundus Numen, another hefty slab of blackened doom. From the down-tempo doom riff that opens 'Extinguish Shapes – Innermediate' through to the burning chaos that closes 'To The Bone – Mania', Essenz's hybrid of filth and ferocity is crushing. With a haunting female vocal and gothic, acoustic chords blended into the distorted might of the opening track, one thing is abundantly clear: Essenz deal in the unexpected. Throughout the album, wherever you expect the tracks to go, Essenz will take you somewhere else completely, not simply off the beaten path but far and away into sonic territories of extra-dimensional dementia. 'Sea Of Light – Pleroma' sees venom pour forth in a wave of tremolo-strummed chords, a battery of drums, and from-hell vocals before it collapses into the doomy, slower mid passage. 'Extricate Spirits – Amor' combines atmospheric doom and black metal bile with a blues shuffle, and the flatulent bass tones of 'Observed By Spectres – Paranoia' farts out heavy chords in a dirty groove. 'Observing Spectres - Schizophrenia' has a cinematic soundtrack feel to it, atmospheric and mournful and emerging from nowhere, its monolithic soundscape slowly becomes diseased by chaotic noise until the devastating might of the fourteen minute epic 'To The Bone – Mania' imposes its grandeur upon us. Essenz are as adept in crafting sickening atmospheres as they are bludgeoning doom. When the dust settles, however, the cracks appear. The vocals are pretty average and do little to enhance the tracks, and the two tracks that are over ten minutes – 'Extricate Spirits – Amor' and 'To The Bone – Mania' – lack significant enough distinction in the riffs and so struggle to hold the attention. But the overall picture that Mundus Numen is suitably grim and tortured and makes for an increasingly intriguing expedition through its sturdy savagery.

Track Listing:

1. Extinguish Shapes – Innermediate
2. Sea Of Light – Pleroma
3. Extricate Spirits – Amor
4. Observed By Spectres – Paranoia
5. Observing Spectres - Schizophrenia
6. To The Bone - Mania

Added: September 22nd 2012
Reviewer: Jason Guest
Score:
Related Link: Essenz's website
Hits: 2025
Language: english

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