June 2020 Feature Release - The Infinite Edition

It's now June which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We look forward to hearing your thoughts on these releases.         

This month's feature release for The Infinite is 1995's sole album from Norwegian avant-garde metal outfit Ved Buens Ende.... entitled "Written In Waters". It was such a unique sounding record that came at a time when the second wave Scandinavian black metal sound was running rampant but it becomes even more special once you discover that the senior song-writer was just eighteen years of age at the time of release. We encourage everyone to give this a few spins to sink in as it's an exceptionally ambitious release that possesses charms that become more evident with each subsequent listen.

https://metal.academy/releases/2573

The sole album from Ven Buens Ende..... is a very obscure listen. This is an album that requires multiple attempts to truly "get" and also requires the listeners full, unwavering attention. It blurs the line between progressive metal and black metal surprisingly well, even if the black metal elements are...questionable. 

All of the odd song structures and time signatures will make for a very alienating experience, especially for those who are expecting a black metal album in the same vein as the plentiful Scandinavian black metal bands that were inescapable during this time. But because this is an Infinite clan challenge, Written in Waters has a vision that is uncharacteristic of anyone else in the genre. Certainly a one of a kind listen that should be heard, even if you may not like the sounds that you hear. For me, it's an album I like, but not one that I can see myself returning to all that often.

7/10

What a strange album. I can safely say that I wasn't able to unpack most of this in one listen, but I think that would apply to most people. The Black Metal really took me off guard since I came into this album completely blind, and it's definitely hit or miss. The tremolo riffs still have that progressive edge to them, with the chord progressions being longer and more fleshed out than most Black Metal, but it's not necessarily groundbreaking. It definitely has a shock factor though, with the Black Metal not fully coming in until the end of "Den Saakaldte", a full 23 or so minutes into the album. There are teases of heavier Black Metal before that, but the band skirts around the influence and doesn't fully commit. 

Written In Waters really does have to be broken down piece by piece, since each transition offers something completely different than what came before it, and it's up to the listener to piece it all together. I've listened to a few influence-salad releases but none sound as alien as this one. The release date of 1995 is also impressive, putting this right smack in the middle of the more experimental wave of Black Metal, which makes a lot of sense looking back. On a first-listen basis though, this album failed to come together in any capacity for me, with the different tones they attempted to merge not making any sense whatsoever. The weaker Black Metal sections didn't hold up to the more progressive sections, and the progressive sections didn't fit together with the atmospheric or avant-garde sections. I'll have to take some time to really delve into this release if I want to re-score it. 

3/5