TENEMENTS (OF THE ANOINTED FLESH)

"Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)" is the 4th full-length studio album by UK black metal act The Axis of Perdition. The album was released through Code666 in April 2011. The album has been eagerly anticipated by followers of the band but many of those followers have probably also been a bit hesitant to expect too much as "Urfe (2008)" didn´t exactly meet the expectations of most of the band´s fans. Especially the fans who expected "Urfe (2008)" to be anything like the "Physical Illucinations in the Sewer of Xuchilbara (The Red God) (2004)" EP or "Deleted Scenes From the Transition Hospital (2005)", which are arguably the band´s most celebrated works. "Urfe (2008)" is a twisted, ambient, dark, and mostly spoken word album with only few sections that can be called metal.

"Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)" brings the band back on the industrial black metal path they are mostly known for. Most of the tracks on the first half of the album are delivered in a fiercely fast-paced fashion. The dissonant bleak riffing is as always a big part of the band´s sound. The second half of the album has more slower and mid-paced parts. A track like "Ordained" even has traces of melody. The vocals are raspy, raw and delivered in a demented almost schizophrenic fashion.

The Axis of Perdition create a busy, "evil" and cacophonous atmosphere, that is not easily penetrable. At times the word "noise" comes to mind. This is in large part due to the sound production which is completely without dynamics. The music isn´t exactly colourful to begin with but add to that the flat and lifeless sound production and the listening experience becomes almost unbearably monotone. The fact that the drums sound programmed and artificial to the point of sounding annoying doesn´t help one bit either.

It´s interesting to note that The Axis of Perdition actually haven´t changed their sound much, but it´s the way the tracks are presented that rubs me wrong. It´s taken me months to get through the album in one sitting simply because my attention wanders after a short while. The hooks are few and far between. We´ve come to expect a chaotic sound from the band, and that´s what the fans want from them, but "Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)" is just too much monotone chaos to be enjoyed for 60:26 minutes. The band occasionally still excel in utter darkness and industrial black metal despair to great effect, but the monotony unfortunately soon sets in.

"Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)" isn´t exactly the return to form I had hoped for. It´s like the band, in their search for ultimate darkness, have completely sacrificed memorability. Even the darkest most cacophonous release needs catchy moments to not become monotone and this album doesn´t have enough. A 2 star (40%) rating is warranted.