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Released on June 17, 2016 via Debemur Morti Productions
Terra Tenebrosa is a band from Sweden, which has just released its third full-length album entitled The Reverses, care of Debemur Morti Productions, and for fans of experimental, avant-garde metal, this release warrants some eager anticipation.
Dense, elaborate and rich in sophisticated detail, Terra Tenebrosa’s The Reverses is a soundtrack to a nightmare, a surrealist vision unraveling as the music builds to a climactic ending. It is a horrific soundscape of abstract ideas made manifest. Echoing crashing cymbals sound like glass shattering. Lurching rhythms and strange guitar riffs sound like disharmonious aural textures emanating from vibrating steel strings. Strange, socialist percussion plays to the sounds of men and women wailing and grinding their teeth.
Terra Tenebrosa features hoarse, raspy whispers atop the dense wall of sound comprised of guitars and burgeoning beats. Quite unlike the discordant drum machine sounds utilized by French avant-garde black metal practitioners Blut Aus Nord, Terra Tenebrosa’s approach makes use of more straight-forward beats playing repetitively. More socialist than dancy, straight-forward rock than discordant, the beats pound with industrial strength, fortified by deep flooding blasts of bass that sound more synth than bass guitar. The vocals blend with the guitars, noise and bass, accentuating the abstract compositions. This is not catchy, predictable music that fans will easily appreciate. The music is harsh and modernist. Fans of experimental, extreme industrial metallers Funeste and Genevieve are wise to check out Terra Tenebrosa’s The Reverses.
Eccentric and seemingly alien to form, The Reverses isn’t necessarily chaotic from beginning to end. There’s some structure utilized here, even if the music is largely abstract. Listening to the dissonant staccato string play brings about an eerie sensation similar to finding something strange in a familiar place. The songwriting is complex in spite of the underlying drum machine sounds almost incessantly repeating. Terra Tenebrosa likes to use vocalizations and guitar play that set the gamut of emotions alit with tapestries of dancing fire. In fact, final track, ‘Fire Dances’, is perfect for a rapturous celebration of chiaroscuro – a wild revenant interplay of darkness and light.
Part subterranean, part atmospheric, the sometimes dancy rhythms don’t utilize typical dance patterns. Fans of industrial alt rock icons Nine Inch Nails who crave a heavier, harsher sound will like what Terra Tenebrosa does here.
Having said that, the cover strikes the listener as somewhat strange. The music is fitting for urban depravation, but the cover features a cabin in the woods. Perhaps the contrast in imagery and music has relevance to the band members.
The slow staccato guitar sections are quite reminiscent of alt-rock legend Marilyn Manson, but the succeeding jams are heavier and more eccentric. It’s also worth noting that the riffs aren’t merely comprised of punk three-chord transitions in the same way mainstream industrial rock bands have used. The slower tempos and strange licks present with some degree of dissonance. When uptempo, the beats are more suitably digital hardcore in style. The vocal effects and deep synth bass reminds the listener of music akin to dark wave synth, merged with orchestral arrangements and socialist beats. Terra Tenebrosa’s The Reverses is hard to describe and difficult to pin with labels and stereotypes. Fans jaded with most industrial rock goth acts will find this album a refreshing listen.
