Rating: 8.9

Country: Poland

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: Crude Entertainment/Damned Pages Promotion

Track list:
Catafalque - 1997
1. You'd Better Fear Light
2. Nefilim/Annunaki
3. Catafalque
4. An Alien Harvest
5. Hello (Alien Life Form)
The Comet - 2001
6. The Comet
7. See Comet Feel Cold
8. Trial of the Comet
Ooze - 1999
9. Carlos Lullaby
10. Wanderer

Band Website: Tenebris

Tenebris - Catafalque - Comet

Szymon - Vocals, Guitar
Primer - Guitar
Jarek Krzemiñski - Guitar
Marcin £ukasiewicz - Bass
Arkadiusz Malawko - Drums

Over the past 22 years of living, I've discovered precisely one noble and so eloquently elucidated truth; Avant-Garde Metal is confusing as shit, yet beautiful as fuck!

Bad Taste/Crude Entertainment, a relatively unfamiliar label outside of Poland, seems to herald musical diversity as a glorious radiant standard above all else. Playing host to a diminutive number of polar opposites, promotional efforts by Crude would feature some of the most musically separate bands ever to be put in juxtaposition. Goregrind junkies would be contented with Patologicum, brutal death/hardcore fans would distinguish Darth, and all else would have to turn a head towards the particularly fascinating quintet out of Lodz, Poland by the name of Tenebris. Having been associated with the metal scene in Poland since 1991, it's reasonably safe to say that the band took many influences from beyond the genre of metal as well as within the dominion of metal, most evidently from the band Death, to incorporate into their music. Now, there is a press release floating about claiming that this band founded the genre of Avant-Garde Metal, which is a lofty claim indeed. Though retrospectively, Atheist put out Elements in '93, Therion hadn't yet hooked up with their portly looking broads and partaking in their grand operatic bender, Samael wasn't selling out electro-disco shows yet, and Edge of Sanity was still dabbling in thrash/death metal music. Listening to this band, it's becoming increasingly easy to understand where they might have a compelling case to their claim.

Catafalque – Comet is a compilation album that would be accurately described as a progressive death metal album, no, wait, a contemporary jazz album, no please disregard that, a tribal chant album… You know what? Fuck it. I have entirely no idea how to sufficiently describe this album aside from calling it “unique and esoteric”, and perhaps the bastard child of Enigma, Yanni and Edge of Sanity. Tenebris do one thing very well in their pursuit of metal glory; confound the fuck out of listeners who try to classify this album under any one specific “genre”. In doing so, the band spares no expense, using various scale arrangements, operatic methodology and a diverse blend of vocal styles, be it raspy and atonal like Vorphalack of Samael, or low-scaled and nasally ala Lane Staley in Alice In Chains, or at times a crude concoction of both. Lyrically, I could compare this to a Warhammer Codex mixed with copious amounts of weed interspersed with Xanax. Complex thoughts and evanescent phrases all signifying absolutely nothing, alas a spiritual drug junkie's wet dream. Though I presume it's better than writing about raping headless corpses or shitting on the toilet seat or something mindless, and most likely slam death oriented. Honestly, the lyrics are the last thing you'll be contemplating after this album sinks in to your psyche.

From the very start of Catafalque-Comet and “You'd Better Fear Light” with the keyboard fade in, one cannot help but remember that vastly overplayed and slightly pornographic song “Sadness” by Enigma which achieved popularity, and in turn caused every obese, middle-aged housewife in America leak slimy, oft neglected, vaginal juices at an alarming rate. In any case, the mixture of subtle ambience riddled keyboards and crispy crunchy bacon-wrapped rhythm guitars along with an ever-differentiating tempo sets pace for the additional elements of the unique music at hand. Placidly and almost begrudgingly the keyboards take the minimalist approach to the composition, and much like the granddaddies of death metal keyboard artists, Nocturnus, it turns out quite refreshing to not be pummeled by Ub3r-N3Kr0 keyboards of d00m for 45 minutes. Without the embarrassment of contradicting myself, the most garish keyboards on this album used on the prominently Egyptian themed song “Nefilim/Annunanki” are truly a nice segue into the most musically diverse and technically proficient piece in this album. By using key tempo alterations in conspicuous parts of the songs, the keyboards have a chance to shine at the foreground while the vocals bellow out in a very Vorphalack-esque rasp, cutting into the listener's cerebral cortex with reckless abandon while pleasuring him/her with a sensory massage of ethereal delights. This song teases and taunts the listener with brisk melodies into trudging funeral marches until finally, in a triumphant breakdown section, the Samael style vocal expulsion and symphonic percussion/guitar attack bursts forth with all the withheld aggression of a chess master who just lost to a damn computer.

Utilizing a lead guitar they refer to as the ‘beauty guitarist' the dual guitar attack is composed so dazzlingly, that the music not once seems to muddle or issue forth that dreaded 'wall of sound' so rampant on less adept composer's albums. With fluid yet never calculated effort, the beauty guitarist embraces the minimalist tone of the album with subtlety and nuance, on rare occasions displaying flamboyance, yet still avoiding entrapment in the ever so tempting vice of utilizing his skills for self-indulgent purposes. Song's like “An Alien Harvest” exemplify this brilliant dual-axe attack in an ethereal upsweep to the heavens followed by the descent into an unforgiving purgatory of fast paced drumming, attenuating keyboards and frail guitar wisps that weave a doleful tapestry of fragile fleeting hope to anyone with a soul in their tenure. Bass tracks in the vein of Atheist's Elements and progressive death metal era Death are a continuous reminder during the passage through the album. The ‘Comet' section of this album displays many patterns analogous to these self-proclaimed archetypes, yet distinguishes with their own distinctive brand of elegant tribalism enough to give the listener a nostalgic yet unfamiliar sentiment. This is exemplified most notably on “See Comet Feel Cold” seems to bear a striking parallel to “Samba Briza” on the previously highlighted Elements album.

One of my major concerns upon first listening to this album was the overall lack of any percussion prevalence. Let me tell you, I was quite unhappy about the drums at many times in this album, being very hollow, sparse, and back dropped against the other instruments being wielded so masterfully. Being a drummer myself I was disappointed that they didn't have a opportunity to shine a little more visibly and give a thorough estimate to just how underrated these musicians are. However, when ruminating upon this disappointing revelation further, I noticed how absolutely perfect the less-is-more attitude of the percussion section enhanced the already minimalist approach of this album. Because, let's be blunt, having Tim Yeung anywhere within 500 miles of this recording session would sound like utter fucking shit. The title track, “Catafalque”, of the first half of this album is by far the most thrashy/death metal oriented and thus, the most demanding percussion track on the album which seemed to be no great chore for our suspect behind the kit, as he was able to crank out a steady diet of up-tempo punkish quarter tempo beats interspersed with double bass kicks aplenty when necessary ala Holy Moses. The gauge of the drummer on this album isn't tested thoroughly though it's more than evident that up against the colossal talent of the guitarist and vocalist/composer of this album, our kit tender seems to be the anomaly of the group, whether he enjoys it or not.

I highly advocate this album to anyone who believes they've heard everything that the enormous genre of metal has to offer. Now, normally, I'm not one to embrace my receptive, tender, tree-hugging hippie side, yet after listening to this album in its entirety, I felt obligated to walk outside in the dark among the forest and pastures outside of my residence. The time was 4:00am, and the very first dim light of the approaching dawn dissolved through the monochrome of the adjacent tree line in a futile endeavor to overtake the pitch dark at that instant. The crickets were abundant and issuing forth their unremitting shrill song for the world to bathe in, be you so fortunate to bask in the sounds of the living terrasphere enveloping you in the pitch. I took a deep, full breath of early morning air and stood still as the cellular microcosms in my brain drunk deeply of the oxygen I had consumed, while the synapses deposited forth into brilliant reflection. This album brought my existence on this earth to a stasis and opened my mind's eye to see how the artists not only try to convey a beautiful eerie message to the masses while staying somberly detached to the cosmic transience of the composition. Much like a leper who heals the wounded and feeble, but yet cannot save himself, the very existence of this album is an outward, altruistic gesture of the damned to provide brightness and optimism in a world filled with immense sorrow and tribulation.

July 20th, 2007