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#FOR FANS OF: Dissonant Black Metal
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Poland has undoubtedly an impressive extreme metal scene in terms of quantity and quality. There is no need to mention all the notorious bands that almost every fan knows, but yes to spend a few minutes to carve below the surface and discover more obscure projects which may be quite interesting. The solo-project Ars Magna Umbrae is one of those musical efforts which may require our attention. This project was founded in 2017 by Petros Xolaiathyos, who had a previous experience in the scene with a black/death metal band called Cultum Interitum. In Ars Magna Umbrae Petros (aka K.M.) focuses his interest on the black metal genre and more particularly in a form of a atmospheric black metal with a certain degree of dissonance. The project has been quite active, having released three albums in the last four years.
'Throne Between Worlds' is the third one and continues, in terms of music and lyric concept, a similar patterns of the previous ones, as this album still keeps strong ties with esoterism and occultism as it happened also in the previous efforts. The atmosphere of 'Throne Between Worlds' is particularly dark and melancholic, feelings which are maintained strong through the whole record. Pace-wise, it’s not a particularly fast album as it focuses more on developing mid-tempo structures. There are ups and downs in the pace with certain moments of relentless fury, but they never last a lot. A quite clear example of it is the opener "Into Waters of the Underworld", a mainly mid-tempo track where the faster section of the middle shows a particularly dissonant touch. As we can appreciate, the main role is shared by the rasped vocals of K.M. and the distinctive riffs that will be a trademark of this album. As said, the guitar work is quite relevant in this opus with a good dose of work behind it. The riffing is multi-layered and with an important dose of dissonance, but thankfully not as predominant as it can be found in certain experimental albums. There is also a room for more delicate chords, which try to create a mysterious ambience in the most quite sections, as it happens for example in "Consecrating the Shrine of Undoing". This attempt to always create a cryptic essence in the music is the logic consequence of the conceptual background behind the music and it is a key element to create an honest album. The contrast between the most dissonant parts and the calmest and most atmospheric sections is particularly well-done and prominent in the track "Treader on the Dreamless Path" which is actually one of my favourite songs, if not the favourite one, as the combination of elements is quite inspired and somehow works better for me than in any other song. "Metempsychosis (Transmigration of the Soul)", the longest track, closes the album and it servers as a summary of the whole record as it contains all the aforementioned characteristics. It contains mid-tempo sections, an elaborated guitar work and that touch of dissonance through the entire track. We can also hear abrupted tempo-changes with furious rages and captivating calmer sections, all mixed to create a hypnotic track that fades out in the form of a gloomy ambient outro. I believe this is the perfect example of what Ars Magna Umbra wants to offer.
All in all, this is a quite interesting album with many elements on which to put some attention and an interesting lyrical concept behind it. It’s not an outstanding piece of work, but a quite interesting and enjoyable one. (Alain González Artola)
