Published on Jan 2, 2002
I have made no secret over the past five years that I am a fan
of thrash metal – and, while I might not always agree with some of
the messages, I’ve become a fan of death metal as well. The sheer
ferocity of the performances, combined with the precision playing
and speed the beats are cranked out at, just appeals to the eternal
16-year-old in me… never mind the fact I’m almost double that age
now.
There are times, though, that a band tries to do too much in
this particular genre that their overall musical vision becomes
clouded. Such is the case with
The Kingdom Of Glacial Palaces, from Poland’s Belfegor (not
to be confused with Austria’s Belphegor… whom we’ll get to soon
enough on these pages). Their full-length debut effort shows
there’s quite a bit of talent behind the sonic curtain that drapes
almost this entire disc – and, were it not for the business of the
overall sound, it could well have been hailed as a masterpiece. As
it is now, it’s flawed, but shows great promise.
The group – bassist/vocalist Tormentor, guitarist Thagirion and
drummer Lethal – are competent enough, showing yet again why Poland
might be the center of the next true assault from the metal
community. Tracks like “The Night Of The Tormentor,” “In The
Ravengate Of Winter” and “I’ll Come From Four Sides Of The World”
suggest that this group has great things ahead in their future.
So why, then, did producer Mariusz Kurasz layer the sound like
he was trying to be the Phil Spector of the death metal world?
Granted, such a concept works from time to time, as on the title
track. However, when each song is draped with such a heavy sonic
coat, the listener actually becomes tired under the weight of the
music – and the interest level in the album itself can quickly
dwindle. Tracks such as “We Go Through The Snow,” “The Night
Hunter” and “The Time Of The Empire” all fall victim to this
misguided strategy – though I’m not blaming the band in this
particular case. Now, if their follow-up album (which might be out
in the summer) were to do the same thing with a different producer,
I might change my tune a little bit.
What
can’t be hidden underneath the sonic muck is that Belfegor
is a very talented unit who are surprisingly tight after a mere
three years together. (What also can’t be denied is that I couldn’t
make out a single word that Tormentor screamed… which, in
retrospect, might be just as well. The only other thing I’d change
is I’d bump Tormentor’s vocal level maybe one click on the master
tape.)
The talent is most definitely there, and it’s safe to say the
songwriting capability is there for Belfegor. But as
The Kingdom Of Glacial Palaces proves, a well-engineered and
produced album sometimes is needed to pull everything together…
and in this case, it’s not quite there. I’m intrigued enough,
though, to give these guys more than another chance – after all,
once that third piece is placed in the puzzle, all hell just might
break loose.