Artist......: Thy Catafalque
Album.......: Vadak
Year........: 2021
Genre.......: Metal
Label.......: Season of Mist
Cat.No......:
Source......: WEB (24bit)
Encoder.....: libFLAC
Quality.....: 2810kbps avg. / 96.0kHz / 2 channels
Playtime....: 01:02:12 (1312.9MB)
R.date......: 2023-02-12
S.date......: 2021-06-25
Website.....: http://open.qobuz.com/album/nddx3lm9i4olb
Disc 1 / 1
--------
01. Szarvas 5:38
02. K÷sz÷ntsd a Hajnalt 4:27
03. G÷mb÷c 5:05
04. Az Energiamegmaradßs T÷rvΘnye 6:50
05. M≤l≤ 10:04
06. A Kupolavßros Titka 3:19
07. Kiscsik≤ (IrΘnke Dala) 3:46
08. Piros-sßrga 5:06
09. Vadak (Az ┴tvßltozßs Rφtusai) 12:24
10. Z·zmara 5:33
Few musicians have as long and varied a career as Tamßs Kßtai of Thy
Catafalque. The one-man outfit may have attracted an entourage of impactful
guests over the years, but the end product was always, is always him. The
throughlines of his writing and personal touch continue to persist even
now, a decade since he struck out on his own. However, his most recent
outings, Geometria and Naiv, lacked that certain je ne sais qoui essential
to his kaleidoscopic sound. Vadak marks Thy CatafalqueÆs fifth entry in
seven years, a common cause of too much lack and not enough luster. Of
course, just as I was ready to pass on Vadak with the same half-shrug as
2020Æs Naiv, Kßtai starts dropping bombs.
Once ôSzarvasö and ôK÷sz÷ntsd a hajnaltö spin up the engine, we peel the
fuck out. If thereÆs an argument to be made for what hobbled this band the
last few years, itÆs the lack of an edge. Where was the heat? The
excitement? The hallowed gas pedal that made metal fookinÆ metuhhhhhl?
Kßtai resurrects it with a vengeance. Excepting an airy, almost ambient
showcase for the superlative vocals of returning collaborator Martina
Veronika Horvßth, every track on the A-side is a goddamn exclamation point.
They are powerful fusions of some of the bandÆs meanest passages in a
decade with the trademark avant garde mix of synth, folk, and prog we
expect. ôG÷mb÷cö thrives in the odd spaces between progressive death,
electronica, and folk; ôAz energiamegmaradßs t÷rvΘnyeö would be a proper
thrash track if it werenÆt seven minutes long and ambient for almost half
that length; ôM≤l≤ö is downright moshable ù not exactly the quality I
associate with Thy Catafalque ù and for the better part of 10 minutes no
less. By halfway through the spin, whatever doubts I had about Thy
CatafalqueÆs present ability to write compelling material were long gone.
For all the strength here, the most usual of gripes rears its ugly head:
the songs take forever. No matter how clever or delightful or fuck-you
forward as the ideas here are, Kßtai always takes his sweet ass time
getting there. ItÆs a small qualm overall, but one has to wonder how much
more punch this stuff would have if he boiled down the sauce a bit.
Thankfully though, past the fact that big riff make weenie nice, the nicest
aspect of the aforementioned heat wave is that it allows the album to do
what the album was always going to do ù get weird ù without most of the
usual side effects. The result lets VadakÆs B-side oddities breathe with an
oxygen mask, not with an iron lung. The spaghetti western-meets-horns feel
of ôKiscsik≤ (IrΘnke dala)ö is exactly the right amount of strange, while
the poignant and dark piano-laden ôZ·zmaraö might be my favorite track on
the album, bar none. ItÆs not all soft stuff ù the penultimate ôVadak (Az
ßtvßltozßs rφtusai)ö is the longest track on the record and one of the best
exploratory pieces KßtaiÆs put out in a minute, partially because heÆs
never afraid to go full black metal at times.
As expected from a Thy Catafalque outing, the sound is spot on. Kßtai
continues to be one of the most underrated producers in metal. Who else
could cobble together so many different environments with this much sonic
cohesion? Nobody (I mean, maybe somebody, but donÆt wreck a good
narrative). Per usual, the bandÆs full roster features 16 guest spots, and
outside of Horvath, the biggest impact certainly comes from Breno Machado
in what appears to be his first work in Metaldom. He swings a mighty lead
axe on four of the heaviest songs on the record, including both of the
ten-plus-minute epics, and fits perfectly into the outfit. Given KßtaiÆs
penchant for Tarantino-esque repeat casts on his records, hereÆs
hoping/suspecting this isnÆt the last we see of Machado.
Early on, I noted to IÆll Be Your Huckleberry that this was definitely a
Thy Catafalque record: the same recurring melody lines as previous records,
the same thumbs in the same pies, the same thematic focus and the same
sonic ADD. In retrospect, IÆm right, but IÆm also wrong. Even though the
individual elements of Vadak are reminiscent of Thy Catafalques past, itÆs
hard to imagine this record written before now, before the last decade of
exploration, before Kßtai spent entire releases understanding certain
elements (for better or worse) that make up pieces of the whole now. The
result is one of the best records in Thy CatafalqueÆs catalog, and one of
my favorite records of the year. Nothing lackluster about that.