Eibon La Furies - The Immoral Compass Review
by Matt Hensch
.
According to the band, Eibon La Furies is "a fusion of avant-garde black metal, dark rock and occult spiritual ascendance," whatever the hell that means. "The Immoral Compass" is the group's second full-length offering since 2005, and although Eibon La Furies has a lot of interesting ideas fluttering around in its flurry of misshapen musical forms, it just doesn't sit well with me. I don't 'get' "The Immoral Compass." I'm not sure what I'm supposed to 'get' listening to a release like this. The bizarre instrumentation? The concoction of black metal and outlandish musical traits? Occult spiritual ascendance? I just don't know. I'm more intrigued by the mediocre vocals that sound like Oderus of Gwar fame attempting a typical black metal rasp than Eibon La Furies' artsy attempt to appear deep or Victorian or whatever they're aiming for."The Immoral Code" is the exact definition of chintzy. The record is all about color and flash and flare and this and that and more of this and more of that, but in the end the whole show looks like an ostentatious, diluted mess that accomplishes precisely a goose egg. Eibon La Furies shifts shape quite often, but usually they integrate black metal themes (vocals, blast beats, riffs, etc.) into a pot of gothic (or "dark," I guess) rock with some experimental and progressive elements floating around in their smorgasbord of sound. Oh, and occult spiritual ascendancecan't forget that. As interesting as it may sound, they do a wonderful job rendering the record's blueprint utterly useless. Several of the twelve cuts are awkwardly pieced together by mediocre riffs, forgettable percussion, and outside influences that try to be tasteful but contribute little of worth. Nothing compelling or sensational happens, ever. The songwriting is pretty much an underwhelming rat race of minor black metal flavors and uninteresting avant-garde nonsense mixed together, because that's intriguing, apparently. Also, the production reeks of amateurism: the guitar tone is foggy, the percussion appears inept despite a solid performance, and the vocals, which sound somewhere between an average rasp and a whisper, are incompetent. Giving Eibon La Furies some points, the squad actually does a swell job mixing up the musical colors with unique injections, such as virtuoso guitar solos and ambient textures that improve the mood, yet most of the album is horribly overblown and directionless. "The Immoral Compass" tries its earnest to look abstract and transcendental, masquerading its poor substance in style; hoping no one will notice the ugliness underneath the layers and layers of gloss and illumination. Skip.
Eibon La Furies - The Immoral Compass Rating:4.0
tell a friend about this review
.
...end |