Insidious Omen is a two piece Black Metal band that hails from Alberta, Canada. Formed back in 2005, the group has issued a full-length recording back in 2006 which was self-released, leading to the release of two cassette-only EP releases. This release, Anointed With the Blood of Chaos, is the second of those two demos, which is finding new life through the Finnish indie Black Metal label Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions to be released as a MCD. For fans, this is a positive note as the original was only pressed to three hundred cassette tapes, but does this meet the standards of an underground indie Black Metal label?
Anointed With the Blood of Chaos is a three song EP that lasts just under thirty minutes. And yes, it's about what you would expect from a Canadian Black Metal act. The production of the release is of a much rawer quality, which doesn't really hurt the release in any way, but at the same time doesn't necessarily do much to help it. The drumming is mostly fast paced repetitive double kicks that fall short of machinegun-like stamina with the same snares and symbols being hit constantly throughout the recording without much of a differing pattern. The guitars sound horribly muffled, and the bass sounds more like an ambient noise then an actual bass contribution. On top of that, you have the vocals which aren't too bad, but due to the quality they can sound pretty rough when they get out of hand. Then again, judging by the track "Through Stone and Steel the Flesh Speaks Deceit", it's probably for the best that the quality is soo raw. This basically sums up your traditional "kvlt" Black Metal recording with nothing too significant or entertaining behind it, which is essentially what this release is.
Each track here goes on for quit some time, as none of the three go below eight minutes, with "Feasting at the Trough of Lies" before the shortest at eight minutes and thirty seconds. This causes them to seem like they are overstaying their welcome at times, simply due to the music that is not all that inspiring consisting of passages that are similar chords and drums played for long periods of time. "Through Stone and Steel the Flesh Speaks Deceit" stands out a bit more, but not by much, as the song actually ends a little past six minutes, and it winds up featuring the same moaning ambience that starts the CD off with "Serpents gate (Thus Malkuth be Reborn)". Sadly, the moaning seems tone deaf, and is performed in such a back of the throat mentally handicapped manner that it's almost comical instead of being eerie and haunting like the other sound effects on the track may make you believe. Of course, this goes on for quite some time on "Through Stone and Steel the Flesh Speaks Deceit" before finally come back roughly two and a half minutes later to actually finish the song.
For the most part, the music really isn't that great, and seriously doesn't make use of the raw production quality like many bands who weave "kvlt" Black Metal recordings do. Instead, it just feels like decent Black Metal that has been stretched out for a long period of time, eventually just becoming repetitive, though on the first few listens really isn't too bad. The vocals sound generic, but they at least work on the album for two songs. The vocals become more like ranting, as well as like kids just yelling into the microphone during the last track, and just sounds as horrible as the moaning that starts and ends this MCD.
Anointed With the Blood of Chaos has some alright music hidden in the raw production quality, and for a "kvlt" release, it's not the worsst you could possibly find. The music is decent, but it lacks atmosphere, the vocals are generic but for the most part work with the music, and the songs are long though not necessarily all that intriguing past a few minutes. Insidious Omen at least has some decent ideas in mind, but this release just shows the group failing to recognize them properly. If this kind of Black Metal is your thing, you may enjoy it more for it's raw state, but the simple truth is that even the raw production can't quite save this effort from being just another Black Metal independent recording.
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