code666 – 25th January 2019
Christopher Nosnibor
SLOW – a semi-acronym / initialism for Silence Lives Out / Over Whirlpool – teeter on that fine line between art and indulgence. The Belgian duo trade in ‘dark atmospheric funeral doom’, and the fact the album’s first track is black, bleak, snarling, anguished guttural vocals below the levels of audibility buried in panoramic guitars only bears this out but sets the tone. This is heavy; this is epic. And this is Mythologiae: a dark, deliberate work, centred around slow, crushing doom at circa BPM as guitars grind and cymbals crash in slow-mo. There isn’t a track which clock in at under ten minutes, and each is carefully constructed, interweaving atmospheric passages through punishing expanses of ultra-slow ultra-sludgy doom-driven metal.
Mythologiae isn’t entirely new work. As the press release explains, ‘The album was previously released in 2015 in very small quantities and sold out quickly. Now, due to a data loss the album has now been completely re-recorded, remastered and remixed and includes a never before released bonus track ‘At The Break of Dawn’ as well as new artwork. So this is, in effect, Mythologiae 2.0. I haven’ heard the original – and seemingly very few have – so can’t compare and can only take this release on its own merits.
No two ways about it, Mythologiae is heavy. Throw all the adjectives associated with heaviosity in here: they all apply, so I’ll save myself some typing out of descriptors here. Crushing power chords. Ultra-low tempo. Etc. each snare hit echoes or about quarter of an hour, which works at the album’s ultra-low BPM. This is doomy, and this is dark
There’s an element of formula to the six – truly epic – compositions here. The grate and grind of the guitars, the pulverising percussion. The deep, resonant, subterranean vocal delivery and placing in the mix – so, so low, and swathed in reverb so an to effect a starving demon trapped in a cave. The form and the dynamic, with the expansive atmospheric passages evolving into crushing post-metal soundscapes works well, but offers little by way of surprise. Does it need to? No, but it would perhaps help amplify the drama to introduce a greater element of unpredictability, which would elevate Mythologiae beyond operating within the conventional topes of genre. But, in context, as an album that ploughs slowly through the sods of anguish at a snail’s pace, it does all the jobs of genre, form, and relentless weight.
