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The way modern Black Metal should sound and feel.-
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| Ipsissimus: The Way of Descent |
Black Metal
Metal Blade Records
May 24th, 2011
- The First Secret of Fatima - 5:45
- Monakhourgia / The Prince of Tyre - 9:31
- The Second Secret of Fatima - 8:13
- The Alchemist's Goatthrone - 6:31
- The Third Secret of Fatima - 7:40
- Hodos Autapophaseos - 6:53
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| Review Information |
Release length: 44:32
Review posted on May 23rd, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 10/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
The Way of Descent (2011)
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| EP(s): |
The Three Secrets of Fatima (2008)
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| Demo(s): |
Trampling the Host (2007)
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| Review |
When it comes to Black Metal, there are just some places in the United States you really don't expect a solid band in that style to come from, and New Haven, Connecticut is one of them. That is where the underground act Ipsissimus hails from since forming in 2006. With a demo and self-financed EP under their belt, the group quickly stepped out of the underground shadows to embrace a deal with Metal Blade Records to issue their full-length debut, The Way of Descent. When it comes to US Black Metal acts, it's becoming more and more a hit or miss deal with the final product, you'll either love it or you'll hate it. With The Way of Descent, you'll quickly find it's not a release that falls under the latter category.
The Way of Descent takes from a lot of the current Black Metal ideas circulating in the more known circles, and the underground realms. The band utilizes ideas from the second and third wave Black Metal styles, having a melancholic slower pace to the music that is reminiscent of acts like Immortal, but at the same time brings a more modern influence to the recording with a great production quality that's clear and captures the blackness of the band's aggressive music that hammers away with blast beats and general intense fury at select moments. At the same time, the group manages to capture some of the more respectable underground French Black Metal ideas of strongly atmospheric Metal that can often last for long periods of time, which is the case with many of the tracks on here, and it just manages to work so well with the venomous bite of the band that pretty much immediately with "The First Secret of Fatima" you'll be swept up into the punishing and sinister musical world that is Ipsissimus with the furious faster pace to the catchier early Black Metal compositions and performance, all transitioned nicely between each other as well.
But the album doesn't stop to impress there. While "The First Secret of Fatima" is enough to capture your attention throughout the whole thing in an awe-inspiring manner, it's the intense and overly aggressive "Monakhourgia / The Prince of Tyre" that really jumps out at you and makes you stand up to take notice. The vocals are simply vile, coming through in the most poisonous of ways with such great intensity and energy in a higher pitched wail similar to Cradle of Filth but not as clear a falsetto, giving more of a rougher, rhaspier, dirtier performance through this and many other songs. The energy in the vocals works along with the pounding drums that are simply fantastic and offer up great variety and more energy to the music to maintain the brutality while the guitars speed away with melancholic Black Metal chords that sound evil and black from start to finish, transitioning between the modern and classic ideas of this style's composition to offer up enough changes to the music in a fluid motion to keep the listener from being turned off during the longest track off the recording.
To put it simply, The Way of Descent is just violent. The music is intense and well composed, as well as executed, for one of the most intense Black Metal rides one may find from a US Black Metal act, especially one of this type of recording quality since most modern recording qualities seem to take away from the experience. However, with Ipsissimus, the sinister sound the music gives is captured perfectly with such a strong black and melancholic atmosphere that matches the overall intensity of the sound. The drums are all podded to the right levels, essentially matching the razor-sharp guitars and bass loud enough to be distinguished and add that extra kick to the material. The vocals have a heavy echo to them, but it just adds to the poisonous and vile nature of the performance, making them sound further inhuman. This is how a Black Metal album of today should sound, especially with the many underground bands flooding that market with raw, analog recordings to try to reach the atmosphere and even overall fury that this one album contains. And it helps in many ways for this band. While The Way of Descent features plenty of intense in-your-face songs that feel as brutalizing as they are razor-like, the band is not prone to just trying to rip your face off while screaming at it with aggression and speed. "The Second Secret of Fatima", which is nicely transitions from "Monakhourgia / The Prince of Tyra" into a slight bleed in effect at the end of the track, is actually a much slower song that feels a little more open, and gradually builds to a more intense and somewhat faster track that just hammers away at the listener. The only fault to be found with this track is that at the end with the guitar solo, it sounds a little more open then it shold be, and the bass doesn't quite fill the gap, but that doesn't really do much damage considering how rich the music already is, and this section still retains the general aggression of the band.
The rest of the album is basically no different. None of the songs take away from the general charging steam that this band has, and continues to mow down everything and everyone in it's path. "The Third Secret of Fatima" does feature a nice passage about half way that feels more Heavy Metal inspired, and it occurs more then once through the song. It's a far catchier approach to the song, and it's quite enjoyable, though feels a little tacked on and doesn't quite capture the energetic brutal assault or melancholic sound well. These are very short sections though, and there's no real harm done to the song other then allow you to headbang to something not as brutalizing, which comes off more a decent breath of fresh air.
If you didn't grasp it during the review, The Way of Descent is a fantastic album. The sheer intensity behind the band, coupled with the energy, atmosphere, and fluidity of the recording really makes for a Black Metal album that is well worth the attention of any self respecting fan of the style. The atmosphere never dies outside of a few small passages in one song, but outside of that the album is simply uncompromising. It's clear why the group didn't decide to stay hidden in the shadows of the underground, and many fans of the style will be happy to see the band is stepping out into the spotlight to make their razor-like music heard to more then just the small amount of people fortunate enough to buy one of the less then one hundred pressings of their full-length on cassette. The band sound professional, and the recording perfectly pushes the atmosphere and intensity of the recording the way it should be. The Way of Descent by Ipsissimus is the way modern day metal should sound and feel, period.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Metal Blade Records.
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