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░ ██ ██ Artist: Consecration ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Fragilium █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2019 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2019-10-19 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Solitude Productions ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ ôHave you ever danced with the devil in the pale █
█ moonlight?ö █
█ █
█ If you are reading this, there is high a chance █
█ you can understand the melancholy pleasure a █
█ person derives from using art, music, literature █
█ or film to draw out their sadness. There is █
█ something cathartic about sitting with your █
█ bleakest emotions, fuelling them with dark sounds █
█ or images and giving yourself over to the gloom. █
█ On Fragilium, Consecration are using their music █
█ to evoke a place of dank misery. In their own █
█ words; ôif you walk into the fenlands at sunset, █
█ leaving the last house at your back, you will █
█ follow a road that slowly dwindles to a footpath █
█ as the sky darkens and the shadows lengthen. With █
█ a cutting wind always in your face, bringing tears █
█ to your eyes, youÆll reach a place where the path █
█ finally peters out to nothing. There is no light █
█ but the stars, and the horizon is as empty and █
█ distant as it was many cold miles ago. The only █
█ discernible features of this desolate landscape █
█ are the gnarled, stunted, wind sculpted trees that █
█ skulk like warped spiders, poised to attack when █
█ you turn your back. ItÆs a place with no name but █
█ loneliness; where all the sorrows in the world █
█ gather to cry their laments to the endless sky.ö █
█ True to their description, Consecration have █
█ created something that shifts and lumbers, █
█ mournfully seeking an end to what appears to be a █
█ grim infinity. Their songs evoke a stark and █
█ desolate place. On opening track, In A Darkened █
█ Slumber, a cold, picked guitar conjures a murky █
█ expanse. It takes some acclimatising to; primarily █
█ because the arrangement is almost free form. █
█ Virtually directionless, there is little momentum █
█ here; just a slow drift that hangs in the fog █
█ before it segues into the equally amorphous, A █
█ Sentinel For The Fragile. █
█ A few minutes into this second track, and the band █
█ bring in their death metal influences. They █
█ maintain the slow pace, but crashing, distorted █
█ guitars and primal drums usher in the introduction █
█ of Daniel BollansÆ deep throated growl. █
█ At their heaviest, Consecration are actually a █
█ less effective band. ThereÆs something within the █
█ limitations of the production that robs the band █
█ of some weight. While their lo-fi approach does █
█ give Fragilium a gnarly edge, it also gives the █
█ music a degree of vulnerability. ThatÆs not to say █
█ there isnÆt something powerful in songs like In █
█ Somnus Ego Morior or An Elegy For The Departed but █
█ to my ears, the delivery occasionally sounds tired █
█ and stilted. To be fair, one could say this █
█ actually adds to the overall sense of eternal █
█ rootlessness. █
█ When the band revert to using space in their █
█ music, they are much more effective at drawing the █
█ listener in and away from the light. In these █
█ moments, with the band relying less on riffs and █
█ structured passages you might find yourself being █
█ slowly enveloped and held in the fog. █
█ ItÆs a lonely, disconcerting placeà but not █
█ without a certain appeal. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. In Darkened Slumber 7:26 ░
░ 2. A Sentinel for the Fragile 11:06 ░
░ 3. In Somnus Ego Morrior (In My Sleep I 12:54 ░
░ Die) ░
░ 4. An Elegy for the Departed 12:18 ░
░ 5. To Welcome the Grey 12:16 ░
░ 56:00 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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