By Willie Cross
A critical act, large or small, can be crucial to realigning or reorganizing one’s thought process. This applies to most things in life, but as it pertains to this article, it refers specifically to music. On the battle scarred warfront of American black metal, or USBM, the marks of progress are constantly rehashed or thrown aside. It takes an album like Avichi’s Catharsis Absolute to allow USBM’s devotees to once again see what it is to progress, yet remain true to the roots of the admittedly foreign genre of black metal.
Avichi is Andrew “Aamonael” Markuszewski, a metal veteran once deeply involved in Nachtmystium and currently putting in work for Lord Mantis. Avichi is Aamonael’s solitary pursuit for perfection and progress in black metal. In the tradition of one man black metal outfits Xasthar and Leviathan, Avichi allows Aamonael’s supreme talent and proficiency to flourish on its own. Catharsis Absolute is a strong progression over Avichi’s previous releases The Devil’s Fractal (2011) and The Divine Tragedy (2007), both solid releases themselves.
The album was reportedly fraught with delays in release date, enduring seemingly endless returns to Aamonael’s chalkboard. In the end there seems to have been no other option, as Catharsis Absolute very plainly reflects Aamonael’s strife for perfection. The album opens with ‘Repercussion’, a haunting track occupied only by a piano progression fit for the most haunting horror films. It acts as a gentle but foreboding dip into the murky waters of Catharsis Absolute, which immediately juxtaposes into the fury of ‘Flames In My Eyes’.
‘Flames In My Eyes’ sets the pace for the first half of the album with sweeping tremolo guitars reminiscent of Wolves In The Throne Room and deep choral backing vocals. Its unflinching ferocity doesn’t quit for the entire length of the song, which slips into the album’s best track, ‘Lightweaver’. The track provides a great example for Catharsis Absolute’s strongest trait: variation. Aamonael doesn’t allow the repetitiveness some black metal albums encounter to define his music. ‘Lightweaver’ switches between vocally driven passages to charging Hellenic black metal inspired verses.
The following songs, ‘Voice of Intuition’ and ‘All Gods Fall’, push further into Aamonael’s variation and experimentation. ‘Voice of Intuition’ is a wrathful track, marked by complex guitar progressions and Aamonael’s grisly vocals. ‘All Gods Fall’ is a desolate, lengthy track that builds from a guitar riff into a chugging, recurrent nearly thirteen minute long saga. Aamonael switches vocals style to something closer to howling to match the apocalyptic landscape of the track.
The album closes with the title track, ‘Catharsis Absolute’. Aamonael once again employs the piano theme from the opening song. Piano is an unlikely instrument to make use of on its own in a black metal album, but the song expands upon 'Repercussion' to create something even more haunting. His utilization of a solitary piano progression is an ideal metaphor for Avichi’s music: something profound and arcane can be conjured through the power of a single individual or instrument. And Catharsis Absolute stands as a testament to what patience, skill and the journey for perfection can lead to.
