TENEMENTS (OF THE ANOINTED FLESH)

Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh), the fourth full-length effort from UK experimental black metal act The Axis of Perdition, is not an easy album to dive into. The long and dissonant compositions, combined with torturous vocals and a noisy, lo-fi production can make for a difficult first few listens - not to mention the hour-long running time that is far too long for its own good. Despite the album's intentional inaccessibility, Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) doesn't get much better with repeated spins. As a matter of fact, I felt that my enjoyment decreased even further with each new listen. Fans of The Axis of Perdition may want to check this out, but you can certainly find better black metal releases this year than this.

The music here is experimental black metal with industrial and ambient influences. The Axis of Perdition have a reputation for creating extremely frightening and dark music, and even if Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) isn't the scariest thing they've ever done, this still isn't an album for those who enjoy the more melodic and commercial forms of black metal. Despite the band's interesting approach to black metal, Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) isn't a very impressive effort in the end. The weak production, combined with the sterile instrumentation and uneven arrangements, makes for an album with tons of potential, yet not enough of it is lived up to the fullest. "Ordained" is the only excellent track here, with its epic and melodic black metal feel making it the album's unquestionable highlight. I also enjoy more ambient-oriented songs like "Awakenings" - the horror-filled ending to this track is especially noteworthy. Other than that, Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) is a fairly unremarkable effort. Not much on this album hasn't done better before, and the whole thing feels a bit dull and uninspired. It's a shame, because there really are some excellent moments on this album - if the entire thing were as great as "Ordained", my opinion of the album would be vastly improved. Instead, Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) lacks enough truly horrifying moments or memorable sections to make it stand out from most modern black metal albums.

I wasn't very impressed by Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh), and I think that there are certainly better experimental black metal releases out there than this one. Though the album has potential, the sterile atmosphere and messy production ruin most of its assets. Fans of The Axis of Perdition will want to give this a shot, but beware that there's only one excellent song on the whole album - and that cannot be ignored. Tenements (of the Anointed Flesh) is far too long for its own good, and lacks enough quality material to justify anywhere near an hour-long duration. 2 stars seems fair here.

'Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)' - The Axis Of Perdition (5/10)

It has always been the more forward-thinking side of the black metal spectrum that has drawn me to this dark sounding genre. The Axis Of Perdition are an experimental black metal act that makes use of electronic sampling and cuts, technical and dissonant riffs, and angered vocals. Their fourth album 'Tenements (Of The Anointed Flesh)' is nothing new to the band's style, relying on the same eerie vibe that got them noticed in the first place. The album is far too long for its own good however, and the consistently depraved mood of the music can lead things to wear thin long before the album is over.

The fastest comparison I could draw would be to Blut Aus Nord, of which this band can thank alot for its sound. Much like their French contemporaries, The Axis Of Perdition has a very similar, cold guitar tone that is used to make plenty of intricate riffs that lean more towards atmosphere than heaviness. The industrial and electronic effects that listeners were divided about are not so prominent here as I would have expected; the menacing drums here give off the same triggered feel that much percussion in the metal realm give, but there are only a few moments where it really feels like I am listening to an electronic/industrial fusion into metal.

The vocals on 'Tenements' may be where The Axis Of Perdition distinguish themselves from Blut Aus Nord, and they are coincidentally also the weakest element of the band's sound. This is not a black metal rasp we are dealing with here; but rather a looming, 'evil' shout that isn't afraid to make a British inflection here and there. The vocals do work in parts, and the introduction of clean singing on the definitive highlight 'Ordained' (also the only track here which does much with melody) is very welcome. Besides that one song, 'Tenements' is mostly about dissonance and atmosphere, and while an atmosphere is acquired quite firmly by the band, it does tend to drag on far too long.

Being over an hour in length, hearing the same style of odd sounding Blut Aus Nord riffs and without much sense of dynamic or- here's the big one- melody makes 'Tenements' sound pretty hopeless, and not in the beautifully romantic sort of way either. It is interesting for a while, and some of the riffs here are particularly engaging, despite being showered in waves of noisy ambiance. The fact that all but one or two of the tracks here are nearly impossible to distinguish from each other leads me to think that The Axis Of Perdition should have either edited this album to a fairly shorter length, or thrown in some melodies for the listener to grab onto.

The Axis Of Perdition may be labelled as an experimental black metal band, but the truth is, the majority of what they are doing here has been done by other avant-garde acts, and what little novelty they have here wears off pretty quickly from the monotonous nature of the album. But for what its worth, 'Tenements' manages to perfectly capture a sense of atmosphere to it, which makes an otherwise boring and tired record into a somewhat enjoyable one.

"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.