A Record That Ponders The Epic & Tragic Visions of its Domain

Album: Epigrammata

Released date: March 20th, 2018

Genre: Death/Doom Metal

Country: Czech Republic

Label: Transcending Obscurity Records

Transcending Obscurity Records is probably my new favorite extreme metal record label today. I mean, who would not love these fellas who, in the past months, had consecutively released solid albums from acts like Arallu, Arkheth, and Greytomb. Perhaps we can all agree that this India-based record label really knows how to look for good talented bands out there in the vast land of the extreme music territory.

Today I will talk about another great album crafted by a band from the roster of Transcending Obscurity, a band who hails from Czech Republic‘s capital city, a death/doom metal quartet called Et Moriemur. Et Moriemur had been around for ten years releasing their brand of sinister and stirring death/doom music in the underground. This year the band is set to unleash their third full-length offering named “Epigrammata” and, as one of the writers of Il Pozzo dei Dannati or The Pit of the Damned, I am one of the lucky ones who had the chance to gain access to this obliterating magnum opus. Oh, the perks of having your email included in a record labels promo list.

Fellow extreme music enthusiasts, “Epigrammata” is an album that holds ten tracks of intensely bewitching dark and evocative extreme metal which not only displays the terrific heaviness of death metal and utter power of doom metal but also lays out the macabre nature of black metal music. Each instrument and element in this offering is perfectly knitted into one fine output. From the magnificent utilization of the piano, acoustic guitars, and other orchestral instrumentations; to the exemplary implementation of the elements of funeral doom and skillful manipulation of disturbing black metal soupçons, every section of “Epigrammata” discloses to its listeners the epic and tragic visions of what Et Moriemur‘s music is all about.

The riffs found in this opus generates a substantial amount of dark sounding melodies which are extremely entrancing, as the whole thing just brilliantly conjures that atmospheric feature of the material. Thick layered bass lines also aid a lot in stirring up that funeral-esque undercurrent and the slow beefy drumming, along with the orchestral instrumentations, helps set that Greek Dark Ages aura in the album that we usually would hear from movies and documentaries dealing with ancient Greek history.

In the vocal department we hear a lot of death metal growls, while in times the frontman throws in some grim black metal howls, accompanied by a choir of consuming Gregorian chanting behind the main object of contemplation. These vocal passages, along with the band’s operatic flair, also helps in embellishing the overall beguiling ambiance of the offering and it compliments what Et Moriemur wants to achieve in “Epigrammata“.

The album’s production is of a much higher quality, but not overdone and it does not erode the record’s essence, than usual materials under the genre. Every instrument in “Epigrammata” is quite clear and distinct sounding. This type of production actually pulls the listeners’ closer towards the intrinsic nature of the group’s music, and it impels the instruments to sound immense which makes the atmosphere of the opus much heavier.

After more than fifty minutes of listening to this magnum opus, I found myself physically drained as the whole experience took me to an otherworldly realm which sucked all the energy I possessed due to its dim and dismal ethos. Other than that, “Epigrammata” had also accomplished its aim and purpose of pondering the epic and tragic tales of the ancient civilizations that had existed before this modern society of ours.

I am very certain that all my fellow extreme music enthusiasts out there now know where Et Moriemur stands in the death/doom genre with the release of this pièce de résistance. I highly recommend this album to every metal fan out there. This is a must own opus! The people behind Transcending Obscurity Records sure knows what they are doing signing talented groups such as Et Moriemur.

Originally written for https://thepitofthedamned.blogspot.com

Rating: 9.1/10