Altar of Plagues – Mammal

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Candlelight Records
Produced by James Kelly

It’s almost inevitable at this point: each year, some black metal band will come along and release a statement so profound, so game-changing, so unbelievably good that the black metal world reels, dividing itself quite neatly into two camps, one that embraces the new paradigm and the other that rejects it. In 2007, Alcest created a black metal album with more acoustic guitar than electric and no extreme vocals whatsoever with Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde. It was either the saving grace of a stagnant black metal genre or the genre’s St. Anger, ultimately responsible for its impending downfall, depending on whether you chose to believe the 100% ratings or the 10% ratings on Metal-Archives. In 2009, Cobalt‘s Gin would do the same thing with its jagged Tool-like riffage and warlike, Hemingway-channeling vocals. Last year, Ludicra paid melodic tribute to a recession-stricken San Francisco with The Tenant and created the same uproar.

Perhaps this year’s polarizing, brilliant black metal album will be Altar of Plagues’ Mammal. Over four tracks spanning over fifty minutes, the Irish trio skewers all conceptions of what it means to be black metal – even those brave new ideas defined by the aforementioned bands and dozens more – with the deft hands of masters, despite their tender ages. (Mainman James Kelly is only 24, even with a previous LP and EP with the band under his belt.) While the band’s earlier work could accurately be characterized as being a part of the same corner of the black metal genre as Wolves In The Throne Room and Fen, Mammal very nearly sees Altar of Plagues trying enough new experiments to put them in a genre all their own.

Brilliant (and brilliantly titled) nineteen-minute opener Neptune Is Dead starts with some fairly par-the-course-for-post-black-metal feedback rumblings and cymbal hits before a vicious, off-kilter riff comes in, then disappears again just as quickly. It’s got Riff of the Year written all over it, even though it barely appears for three seconds and only contains one chord. It’s so bizarre and jarring that it actually succeeds in making the music unsettling, a quality that used to be so crucial to the metal genre but has more or less disappeared from it. Feather And Bone is the song on Mammal that would have been most at home on Tides or White Tomb, Altar of Plagues’ previous two releases, but it still feels like that style fully realized, almost as though the band is nodding to its previous accomplishments while stomping all over them. The final pure black metal composition is track four, All Life Converges To Some Center. It’s the song most predicated on the album’s pervasive Emily Dickinson themes, its title a take on one of her most famous poems, ‘Each Life Converges To Some Centre’. Prior to and during the recording process, the band became obsessed with the 19th century American poet’s unique portrayal and personification of death, and the lyrics – though admittedly often indecipherable – owe her a huge debt.

Perhaps the most interesting track on the album, and certainly the one that will inspire the most debate, is When The Sun Drowns In The Ocean. There’s black metal elements present in the song, chiefly in its droning, hypnotic riffs and ineffable atmospheric qualities, but the vocals are an enormous departure from the genre, and indeed, from any recorded music I’ve ever heard. The description the band posted to their official website describes the vocals as well as they can be described, and adds layer upon layer of emotional depth to the eight minute dirge:

“The audio is that of an old Irish funerary custom known as “keening” (from the Gaelic “caoineadh” – “to cry”). This was a vocal lament normally sang over the corpse of the deceased by an elderly women in improvised or pre-composed meter. The womans hair would be un-brushed and let hang down over the corpse to symbolise the disarray of death while expressing emotions of grief, loss, bitterness and love. Reference would be made to the deceased person’s genealogy, deeds and character and curses could be uttered if there was an identifiable person to blame for the death. The custom, although probably of ancient origin, can be dated to the 8th century and remained an integral part of Irish tradition up until the beginning of the 20th century when centuries of opposition from the church finally succeeded in abolishing it.”

Here we see Altar of Plagues finding a place for an obscure, traditional form of music within the black metal framework without sacrificing an ounce of integrity or making it sound forced, something Eastern European black-folk bands could learn a lot from. Much like Varg Vikernes on the latest Burzum release, James Kelly has found a way to pay homage to his heritage through his music without losing sight of his audience. When The Sun Drowns In The Ocean is the most significant achievement (if not the best song) on an album that will likely inspire equal parts purist ire and hero worship come year’s end. Not listening to Mammal to determine which group to align with is inexcusable.

“ skewers all conceptions of what it means to be black metal ”

Tracklist: Neptune Is Dead / Feater And Bone / When The Sun Drowns In The Ocean / All Life Converges To Some Centre

Written by Brad Sanders
More: 2011, Albums, Black Metal, Altar of Plagues