ANTEDILUVIAN — λόγος (review)

Album · 2013 · Death Metal

4.5/5 · 2014-09-13
Wilytank

I find that as a connoisseur of metal music I don't listen to a whole lot of stuff that has a feel-good tone to it, and I find that I'd much rather music that conveys the exact opposite feeling. Now I don't mean depressive music per se (not all the time anyway) but rather music that is just downright unnerving. Music that makes me feel like there's something extremely wrong in this plane of existence, that something bad is going to happen to everything on an unfathomable scale, and that there's nothing anybody can do to stop it. Such is the experience with Antediluvian's sophomore release λόγος.

Antediluvian follow a death metal formula similar to that of Mitochondrion, Portal, and Impetuous Ritual. They make this chaotic and dissonant sound that also sounds ancient and esoteric due to the primitive sounding production on this album, and really that's what λόγος is all about. This whole album sounds like the destruction of the universe as inscribed on ancient stone tablets many eons ago, and the uneasiness that accompanies that idea is constant throughout the album.

As such, λόγος is one of those albums that's best listened to from beginning to end. However, each of the songs on here have their own discordant melody to make them memorable even if it's not particularly easy to pick them up on the first listen. Establishing them though gives some well needed landmarks throughout the album to give the listener a sense of progress such as the steady kick drum passages on "Towers of Silence", the crushing opening riff on "Nuclear Crucifixion (Turning the Spear Inwards)", or the pitch bending on "On the Tree of LIfe and Death". The guitars, besides laying down the relentless riffs, also provide some tormented sounding solos on each of the songs to compound the unease. Even the ambiance in between the songs is welcome; I'd almost call them a necessity because they actually provide a lot as the album passes through.

The vocals though are an absolute treat. They're this layered sounding low growl that sounds like the voice of a daemon lord whispering apocalyptic prophecies. That's what they'll sound like as you progress through this 34 minute path towards eschaton. They're dark, unsettling, and sound like they're reciting the lyrics in some D&D styled abyssal language. Even when they're relegated to quieter mumbling during the ambiance between the songs they sound excellent.

I have to give props to one track on this album more than the others though. As this album goes on through the chaos, eventually it reaches the final track "Death Meta" which is easily the cornerstone of the album due to how beautifully it brings the whole experience to a close. It's noticeably slower than the rest of the tracks, but this only makes the experience even more unnerving as the final push towards the end of time is made. It's apparent from the slow to start riff progression coming off of the interlude ambiance at the start to the distorted freestyle ending alongside the prophetic sounding spoken word passage that this track is the best way to end the album as the universe finally collapses.

Listening to λόγος feels like a bit of a trial, but it's an extremely fun trial once you get used to it and it's easily one of the better products of this niche of death metal. Antediluvian definitely have a good thing going for them right now, and after listening to this I just wonder what alternate tale of Armageddon they will tell in the future.

(89/100)