Zemial - In Monumentum (2006)^{Release ID: 28883}

I was virtually unaware of Zemial prior to this, other than seeing the name occasionally. Quick research shows them to be a one-man outfit from Athens, or maybe not, it's hard to tell. The main man is multi-instrumentalist Archon Vorskaath, who seems over the years to have involved a number of others in the project, including his brother, Eskarth the Dark One. The brothers are also sole members of melodic black metal act, Agatus and look to have moved around a fair bit, moving from their native Athens to Adelaide, then to Germany, back to Athens and now the UK!

Despite forming in 1989, 2006's In Monumentum is actually Zemial's debut full-length, although they had put out a number of EPs in the preceeding years. It consists of medium-paced thrash with blackened vocals in the main, that is kind-of familiar within Greek black metal circles, but which never really grabbed or particularly convinced me. The production is kind of muted and the addition of occasional keyoards just seems to muddy things up even more, but most importantly the tracks seem to lack fire and feel terribly pedestrian to my ears. I like to hear black metal bands sound like they mean it, whether they are spewing vitriol at organised religion or praising the majesty of the natural world, but this feels like it lacks passion and dynamism.

My favourite track here is the closer, In Monumentum / Stone of the Ages, which isn't black metal at all, but is an epic, almost progressive, heavy metal track with clean vocals and here the band feel more interested in the material than in the previous half-an-hour's blackened thrash - and therein lies the issue with the album for me.