Collector's Edition in 6-panel Digipack.
t was only, what, May when I reviewed the previous Elffor album Uhgluk but this turned out to be as essntial to review as it was to simply listen to. Uhgluk showcased Elffor’s incredible feel for dungeon synth and ambient but this album, Utmost Antiquity, is their approach to black metal.
Utmost Antiquity. Even the title promises things.
‘Entrapment Of The Unwilling’ offers a haunting drone, a feeling of descent in its opening. And then the howl, the scream and the absolute storm of guitars and keyboards, the most subtle of shifts in tone bringing the chaotic storm into deeper focus. Does anyone here remember the magnificent Elend? The strange, incredible neoclassical band via black metal (and if you don’t, note the spelling and look them up)? That’s what these vocals remind me of, offered by guest musician Déhà. Unhinged, deranged, tortured howls as though their soul is leaving their body. Somewhere the melody creeps in under this assault and you feel the focus of that mind, clinging to it ass sanity leaves and just the huge emotional hit as the melody and the keyboards open out into the completely epic. This is a monumental sound, a mad prophet hurling deep knowledge to the winds of torment with their last sane thought being that no one will understand me. Thirteen minutes of chaos, of shattering light across pitch black skies that never lets you forget that a soul was ripped free at the heart of this. The storm passes, the trailing winds remain. The voice still howls, more dog than human now.
This is what I want from music. This.
‘Iluntasunaren Gudarostea’ I think means ‘Army Of Darkness’. The opening is a strange sound, a pipe whose origin is not known to me, sharp and with a hint of drone. Circular breayhing? Who knows. The wind blows as it plays and then an absolute rumble rolls over it, taking the tune on a flurry of deep drums and dense riff with snarled vocals. A curious folk lilt is retained, some glorious vocal calls adding a wild spirit, summoning something. It becomes darker, deeper in style. A sense of the claustrophobic about it. Even as the sound rises, the nature remains dark but epic in the scope slowly revealed. It reeks more of uprose and planning, of a grand scheme to me as those folk touches vanish beneath a blanket of primordial black metal.
‘Laid In Ancient Mud’ has an uncanny and deep rooted riff, the howls of Déhà ripping out as dramatic keyboard flourishes and swirls drape the horror with a sense of malevolent reverence. Insistent and relentless, hidden knives hooking the melody into your brain only to twist and tear it out and find another. Path takes us through curious quiet as the vocals continue, out again but into a clearer sound. It is a beautiful, horrific composition.
The title track after three lengthy passages is a modest six minutes, and undulating flow that kind of harks back to Emperor around ‘The Loss And Curse….’ but with Elffor’s touch for the melody of the riff and the style. It brings a melancholy, a sense of loss to the album. A passage of clean choral vocals, a descent or ascent on the foreboding wings of an organ sound; something lost or found as the riff takes it up and pursues it.
‘Untold Legacy’ closes this book. A sombre drone, the riff climbing the scales, speed controlled, the snarling voice. The break as it finds a moment of dramatic and almost frantic keyboard notes before taking flight through the folds and clouds of a majestic black metal uplift. This is one of those passages when you want to spread your arms and rise with it, black wings taking you to where you were always supposed to be. Beauty in darkness.
Elffor is an undoubted master, yes, but sometimes you need to jst sit back and delve into these songs. The touches, the twists, the arrangements and alongside the powerful and dramatic riffs the touch of the keyboard maestro weaves deep, dark magic through it. With a truly excellent band with him and the extraordinary vocal guest of Déhà this is probably the atmopsheric black metal album fo the years so far. Gorgeous, emotional and thought provoking music of the richest design.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=rhrlz6Bi5CU
