Beatrik "Requiem Of December" CD Digipack

Beatrik’s second album, Requiem of December, is a black metal album from Italy; though his first album is quite good, he really keeps everything focused for this release. The album is the depressive black metal style that is becoming popular, but this album is quite different from those. This album is centered around death and the realization that death will always bring sadness which will last eternally. It is almost uplifting in the sense that it talks about always being in depression after death, and it’s not a temporary thing it is something you must deal with it and embrace it. The album also has a slight depressive feel coming from nature; helping the artist portray the eternal sadness he has.
The album describes this through it’s slow pace and steel picked riffs, where keys accentuate that riff at times; moreover the guitars rip through your soul, and forces you release all of your emotions. Every melody has depression soaked in it, and while the riffs are usually slow, they sometimes cumulate into a faster part, but keep the slow picked melody in the back ground. The vocals in this album are truly the highlight; they are strained, emotive, and drawn out, and accentuate everything he’s trying to convey. Although the atmosphere is quite thick, it’s easy to listen to the album multiple times because of the brilliant songwriting. The songs progress through the album at the speed required, yet not once lingering on a certain speed too long. Requiem of December has so many subtle parts that every listen can give the listener another idea not previously heard.
This album is pushing the boundaries that you can take Burzum’s music. It never has a part that is am homage to Burzum, but influence is there because of the way he arranges the songs. Requiem of December is a step in a new direction from Burzum, and it will be interesting to see what Beatrik comes up next.

"Requiem of December" was the first Beatrik full-length that i heard and their second full-length album to date. By far one of the best albums released in 2005. I for one am actually surprised how good the French Black Metal scene is. With bands like Deathspell Omega, Belenos and others it's hard to imagine any other country competing with such a great scene and that includes Norway ... The most notorious country for Black Metal in the past decade or so.
As for the album itself, it's a perfect mixture of Black and Doom Metal. Absolutely spot on. As the previous reviewer said, Beatrik's second full-length release brings to mind some of the best works from bands like Xasthur, Wigrid and Forgotten Tomb. Aside from Forgotten Tomb, i don't think there is another band who blends the two genres of Black and Doom quite as well as Beatrik do here. Simplistic music at its best. The music portrays many of the primitive emotions, such as; sadness, desperation and at times, anger. The vocals are simply brilliant and fit accordingly to the music. They're much like that of Varg Vikernes'. Atmosphere is melancholy and at certain points simply beautiful, which is a strange contrast.
If truth be told, no matter how much is written about this release, words cannot describe how good it is. My only advice to you is, get yourself a copy and bask in the sheer brilliance that is Beatrik.

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