TERRA TENEBROSA — The Purging (review)

TERRA TENEBROSA — The Purging album cover Album · 2013 · Atmospheric Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Purging" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish avantgarde metal act Terra Tenebrosa. The album was released through Trust No One Recordings in February 2013. Terra Tenebrosa feature three members of the defunct Swedish post hardcore legends Breach. In Terra Tenebrosa they work under the pseudonyms Hibernal, Risperdal and The Cuckoo and always wear masks.

People familiar with Breach will know that they played a heavy, intense, dark and rather adventurous post hardcore style (Especially "Venom (1999)" is highly recommendable), which has influenced a great deal of artists throughout the years. Terra Tenebrosa is a completely different beast though and if I didn´t know, I would never have guessed the link between Terra Tenebrosa and Breach. However because I do know the link is there, I am able to hear a few nods toward Breach, but they are very, very few.

The music on "The Purging" is dark, eerie and atmospheric avantgarde metal with the occasional nod towards post metal. It´s rather original sounding and actually quite hard to describe correctly. Most tracks are repetitive, slow buildning and atmospheric, but on occasion more aggressive parts kick in. It´s the eerie and dark atmosphere that´s the focus though. The playing is adventurous and often odd ideas and elements are used. The vocals are gurgling, screaming, growling, whispering and talking and for the most part pretty bizarre and contribute greatly to the overall avantgarde feeling of the album. A feeling that is further enhanced because of the band´s image.

"The Purging" is in addition to the high level musicianship and adventurous songwriting also a well produced album. I´m not sure I always feel that the band´s experiments work wonders and sometimes the music drags a bit because of it´s slow building and atmospheric nature (especially "The Nucleus Turbine" is a bit tedious), but I´m sure fans of stylistic elements like that will enjoy it. I found myself both intrigued, challenged and for the most part entertained (especially the title track score high in my book) and a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.
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