The problem with jam bands is that they suck. Sure, they may be technically proficient, but if you want great musicianship and awful songs, there’s a plethora of tech-death bands that noodle along their frets a whole lot more impressively than Phish. But what if you could take “the jam” and spread it all over a well-constructed album? My guess is that it would be pretty fucking good! And here’s where Entartung comes in…
Let’s make some quick comparisons just to get them out of the way, since Entartung is a relatively new band (note that the band is a duo, and that neither member has ever released anything under another band name). Being that these black metal-ers are German, it’s no surprise that they have picked up quite a few characteristics from their ancestors, Nagelfar, particularly the lengthier songs and the occasional deep, operatic vocals passages that may or may not be sung in Latin. The other predominant direct comparison is Finland’s Sargeist, a band that could make even the most cloistered of all Catholic nuns as wet as the Pacific with the sheer amount of riffery that took place on 2010’s Let The Devil In.
But it doesn’t do Entartung justice to give the above comparisons as the band’s sole descriptors. Because, what about the jam? Well, Peccata Mortalia slaps it on as generously as yo’ momma’ does.
For those who are already familiar with the band’s debut, Krypteia, take pleasure in knowing the band’s latest and sophomore effort all but blows it out of the water. (And that’s saying something, given the quality of the songs on Krypteia.) To put it simply, where Nagelfar produced lengthier songs with many parts, and where Sargeist doesn’t need much time to destroy its listeners with maximum riffage, Entartung applies slow, gradual force to your eardrums, only leaving you in ecstasy after you’ve already fallen into some black metal trance.
And no, we’re not talking about keyboards here… only simple-yet-genius riffs and guitar melodies that are repeated and repeated for minutes while the vocals, drum pacing and basslines dance around them and change constantly. Check out a demonstration of this in Peccata Mortalia’s opening track, “Blasphemaverit in Spiritum Sanctum”:
As exciting as that track is, it’s nowhere near indicative of the greatness that occurs during the 40-or-so minutes of Peccata Mortalia‘s playing time. The album consists of five “real” tracks and three brief piano intro / interlude / outro passages that may or may not be completely unnecessary. About half of the album’s music is very high in energy and, much like “Blasphemaverit,” is raw, fast and empowering.
The album’s other half contains darker, slow-burning moments that prod the listener to, well, jam the fuck out (most notably on the track “To Conquer Immortality in the Depths.”) There is one additional albeit minor element that is becoming more and more a “thing” with new black metal releases, and that is passages of tribal drumming being incorporated into songs. (In this case, they’re almost hidden.) This was more prevalent than ever on big releases from Aosoth and The Ruins of Beverast last year, and it’s a nice, subtle addition that enhances the genre but doesn’t seem to make any drastic changes to it.
Entartung really has everything a fan of riff-forward black metal could want in a band. The only thing the group has yet to master is its overall album composition. Where the greatest albums from my two initial comparison bands, namely Let The Devil In and Hünengrab im Herbst, are flawlessly composed, Peccata Mortalia feels a bit disjointed and even slightly directionless from song-to-song.
However, if one were to compare any of these tracks to the best that black metal has to offer, they stand their fucking ground on every occasion. It’s only the collective that needs a little bit of sharpening. Entartung is good folks. Damn good. But if its presumably young band members, Lykormas and Vulfoaic, continue in the direction they’re going, Entartung is going to be scary good.
