November 2023 Feature Release - The Guardians Edition
I always try to keep everyone on their toes with these monthly featured albums, and this month is no exception for The Guardians with Malokarpatan's newest release Vertumnus Caesar. This is far from your average Guardians album as Heavy Metal riffs dance in and out of Black Metal sections with sinister vocals and an overall evil atmosphere. I'm personally a big fan of the direction on this one and I think it brings something fresh to the Black and Heavy Metal fusion concept, so give it a shot if you like and share what you think below.
I'm afraid I struggled with "Vertumnus Caesar" which was fairly easy to predict given that its style isn't really in my wheelhouse. I'm not sure it's the best fit for a The Guardians feature release either as I don't feel it's a "heavy metal" record per se. Malokarpatan use black metal vocals & aesthetics as the basis for their sound & then layer them over the top of a whole range of different genres including symphonic prog, speed metal, heavy metal, black 'n' roll, thrash metal, avant-garde metal & progressive metal so "Vertumnus Caesar" is really hard to pigeon-hole but I feel pretty strongly that it shouldn't be in The Guardians. I'd suggest that leaving them solely under Black Metal (Conventional) might be the best approach as that element is the only common denominator across the tracklisting & I think adding the album to The Pit or The Infinite would be a stretch.
Anyway... "Vertumnus Caesar" is simply a bit too quirky & consciously unusual for my taste. I'm not the biggest fan of black 'n' roll or blackened speed metal so those sections kinda lose me. The opening intro track is an absolute abomination with a horrible out-of-key melodic component that gives me a similar response to finger-nails running down a chalk board too which doesn't help. The blackened heavy metal of the title track & the epic progressive black metal closer "I hle, tak zachádza imperiálna hviezda" are pretty enjoyable but I'd rather leave the rest of the album to those with a stronger penchant for this sort of thing.
3/5
P.S. I'd encourage anyone participating in this feature release to vote in the below Hall of Judgement poll.
Well this was interesting. I actually discovered Malokarpatan during 2020 and found it relatively enjoyable as the weird old school heavy metal/black metal hybrid it was originally marketed as. But I wasn't in the brightest of spirits when I listened to Krupinské ohne so it was never a record that I would return to. Most likely the language barrier had something to do with that.
So getting back into Malokarpatan was a bit of a stretch, but I did enjoy Vertumnus Caesar because, unlike Daniel, I actually see this record as being closer to traditional heavy metal (or at the very least, early proto-black metal bands like Bathory) and the truly black metal elements serve more as window dressing.
The riffage on display here does take a few liberties when it comes to drive as much of the record is rather slow and mellow instead of pummeling with blast beats and tremolo picking. Some of the riffs feel similar to the early thrash metal bands who began experimenting with death metal like Possessed and Slayer, while the vocals are the closest and main reason why those who listen to this band claim them to be a hybrid with black metal. This delivery is drenched in a reverb effect and are performed with a contempt flare, almost like Burzum.
This isn't the first album in this style that I've listened to this year. A previous Guardians featured album (Darkmoon Blade - Darkmoon Rising) raised my eyebrow in much the same way, as did Darkthrone's 2022 album, Astral Fortress. That isn't to say that I didn't like Vertumnus Caesar. Since I have been exposed to more artists like Malokarpatan, I can start to tell who does this OSBM sound well and Malokarpatan are near the top of that list. It isn't really a genre that I plan on exploring too much, but for a brief period of time, I did enjoy this.
3.5/5
unlike Daniel, I actually see this record as being closer to traditional heavy metal (or at the very least, early proto-black metal bands like Bathory) and the truly black metal elements serve more as window dressing.
Quoted Saxy S
See, I don't disagree that the black metal elements are simply layered over the top of instrumentation that's borrowed from other genres. In fact, that's pretty much what I said above, isn't it? Perhaps the difference of opinion here is that I don't think early Bathory had much to do with "heavy metal". If we're getting very specific then I'd suggest that Bathory's self-titled album is a blackened speed metal record but it was close enough to the final product be claimed as the first proper black metal release as far as I'm concerned.
If we look at "Veryumnus Caesar" on a track by track basis then it'd look something like this for mine:
1. Symphonic prog
2. Blackened speed metal
3. Black/heavy metal
4. Black 'n' roll
5. Symphonic prog/avant-garde metal
6. Avant-garde/black/speed metal
7. Blackened speed metal
8. Progressive black metal
Now, that's just my take on things but I don't see heavy metal listed often enough in that list to make it a primary genre. Although it's clearly not your traditional black metal album, I'm not seeing a more logical way to tag this record as there's simply too much jumping around & it's those black metal elements that tie it all together. Anyone got any other ideas?
I've kind of grown tired of melodic death/black metal and such sounds. Often, it feels like an excuse for a bunch of people who can't sing and some guitarists whose only virtue is their speed. How I long for more bands to style themselves after Satan's Host, but alas, I seem to be the only person on the planet to like them. Malkarpatan falls into the former category, but honestly, they aren't half bad.
I can't quite put my finger on what their melodic parts sound like. I wanna say Iron Maiden, but I can't think of a single Iron Maiden song which sounds like something off this. It almost feels like a glam metal inspired riff style. To complicate matters, this is mixed in with at least a dozen instruments and synths. I had my answer on Panstvo Salamandrov, it's black metal ELP. Everything makes sense now.
This isn't necessarily to pin the band into one specific thing, because this album does so many things yet feels very cohesive. They possess the unique talent to do something like play rigid black metal and then follow it up with something that wouldn't fit on 90% of albums that try it. Yet, they make it sound as natural as the calm before the storm.
They're an interesting band, and I look forward to hearing more of them.
4.5/5