#Malum In Nauseam for #MetalChronicles
3 min read
Band: Malum
Title: In Nauseam
Label: Independent
Release date: 6 October 2023
Country: Norway
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording
“In Nauseam” is a 6 track album released by Malum on October 6th, 2023. Back in the day I didn’t notice about this release, but the other day I was wandering through Bandcamp and then it appeared in front of my eyes (or better, my ears). After listening to it I decided to write about it for Metal Chronicles, ‘cause maybe some of you also skipped this great piece of Atmospheric Black Metal. And I think it deserves your attention…
Avoiding comparisons (though I’m sure that another band will come up to your mind while you are listening to Malum), these guys play Atmospheric Black Metal in a way that the music envelops you with extreme cold and a tight grip. You can feel the icy riffs permeating your skin and the drums setting the pace and making their way through your ears sometimes with fury, sometimes with a rhythm that almost puts you in a trance.
I love how the album starts. “Into the Vast Horizon” has a soft and dark beginning, it starts to increase its atmosphere gradually, the guitar tone is cold and the drums mark a mid-paced tempo until the bass pedal incorporates and the feeling of oppression starts to grow. The raw production fits perfectly. And the raspy vocals barely have any modulation, the monotone is what drives me through music like the beacon I must follow through all the frostbitten surroundings. When there’s only the music playing, I feel like I am lost wandering across the tundra and it also feels damn good.
The tremolo riffs are a constant, mixed with the drums playing at mid-pace making a hypnotic effect. When drums speed up, I feel my heart racing a bit, but the eternal coldness of guitars and bass don’t let me go. I feel myself chained to a place where time stands still and the cold never leaves. And I love this feeling, even if an extreme frost is devouring me from inside.
Malum creates a perfect sonic environment of bleakness into the most absolute obscurity. The further the album goes, the deeper you get lost, but I must say it’s a pleasant sensation for me ‘cause I feel it as comforting. It may sound like a contradiction but it’s just my way of feeling it. I think that Atmospheric Black Metal is one of the most touching genres, often with intimate and deep lyrics that are like food for the soul. Not cheerful of course, but the realization that there’s something profound in our existence, and this carries suffering, pain, agony, and a lot of darkness. We walk towards our unavoidable demise and this is the only thing that makes all of us equal.
The six tracks that conform to “In Nauseam” are like a single unit, all together plunging the listener into the deepest cold. Driven by tremolo riffs, drums that set their pace usually in a mid-tempo and run faster when the agonic feeling needs to be increased, and vocals with that monotonic raspiness… yes, this album is a great path to wander. I give it 9/10 Sílvia
9/10 Epic Storm
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