Rating: 7.5

Country: Canada

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Self-Released

Track list:
1. Birth Of Anti-Christ
2. Anti-Christ
3. Eruption
4. Desolate Land

Total playing time 18:55

Band Website: Artep

Artep - Fires of Mortal Deception

Artep - Guitars, Bass, Synth, Vocal
Lord Goatesque - Vocals, Drums

This demo really snuffed my winning streak of interesting introductions. I'm even at a loss when trying to think of comparisons; Canada's Artep clearly draw so many fine elements from such a myriad of influences, it would be pointless to namedrop all the Dissections and Abigors these guys remind me of at times. So, I may as well just get into it. This is a surprisingly clean black metal demo, full of well developed musical themes that are expressed with a surgical emphasis on interaction between dual-guitar harmonies and exotic keyboard presence. Fires of Mortal Deception isn't entirely dominated by high-end insect wing tremolo picking and synth, but even when the power chords surface, the rhythmic resolution is almost theatrically bouncy, assisting in an atmosphere that's more akin to that of a bizarre circus ritual than black metal's usual cross-armed solemnness. Which isn't to say this is Dreidel of Filth carnival metal; the ostinato string plucking combined with the arresting riffs and noxiously shrill guitar tone results in some truly regally sinister melodies, a testament to how well-crafted arrangements are more imperative to atmosphere than padding synth everywhere.

The keys are an organic wash of sweeping string melodies, usually placed before a particularly essential riff of the song. It usually works, but sometimes... well, you know when you're eating savory ribs, and a fly starts buzzing around you, threatening to contaminate your delicious meal? Chances are you regress into a territorial primate and swing your forearms in its general direction, perhaps while grunting, until it finds another room. My mind becomes like that whenever an ill-applied keyboard passage rudely intrudes on otherwise good black metal. For instance, the irritatingly benign keyboard bit about three quarters through the song "Anti-Christ" intends to emphasize the following main riff's power, but instead it just robs a great deal of the song's momentum. So despite this demo's generally high quality, it does have its share of flies, so to speak. Speaking of keyboards, black metal bands, please stop putting lengthy faux-symphonic intros in short recordings, as it results in some seriously top-heavy listening. Although the song in question, "Birth of Anti-Christ," isn't bad, synthesizers are not meant for ambitious classical pieces.

Crisp production allows the elements of Fires of Mortal Deception the space they deserve, as Artep have no inadequacies to obscure with a shitty mix. A surprisingly prominent drum sound transforms the double bass into a thunderous, unsteady flutter, like the wings of a giant, poser-killing mothra or something. On second thought, it's more like my analogies; not exactly precise, but pretty badass nonetheless. The amusingly named Lord Goatesque provides pretty much what you expect for vocals with raspy screams and strangulated croaks, which otherwise wouldn't be worth mentioning if it weren't for the occasional ghoulish backing shriek from guitarist Artep. She also drops some pretty effective whammy bar-abusing solos that shred pyrotechnically over particularly potent riffs to instill a sense of chaos into the otherwise placid structuralism, instead of merely being tacked on haphazardly for the sake of saying "hey look guys, we're a black metal band with guitar solos, doubleplusgood!"

Fires of Mortal Deception is a sophisticated demo from a band who will likely do amazing things, once they swat their metaphorical flies and allow their songwriting talent to breathe.

December 7th, 2007