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Meslamtaea – Geketend In De Schaduw Van Het Leven

meslamtaea – geketend in de schaduw van het leven

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Well, here we are again. Meslamtaea’s new offering after 2019’s “Niets En Niemendal”. And what a record it was. I was given the opportunity to review it for VM-Underground, and as I said back in that day, the melody placed within these songs is immense. The label in which the band was/is placed, does not totally portray the sound this duo crafts. Meslamtaea comes from The Netherlands and is the creation of Floris Velthuis and Khaos (2/3 of Asgrauw) in 1998. Since then, 3 Full-lengths, 3 Splits and 1 Demo. They do not seem to be a very productive band, do they? But what they do, has quality, that is a fact. Their new offering, a very schizo one at times, will be out on September 4th, and I was given, once again, the opportunity to listen to it, and it was a pleasure.

The first thing we notice in Meslamtaea’s sound, is something we can see throughout the Dutch Black Metal scene: there is not a strict structure, nor pre-fabricated guidelines designed for you to follow. A sort of “Black Metal 101”, if I can. Labels like The Throat or Consistentis Veritatis Peremptoria, although they work with a different Black Metal, is it, once again, not your basic Black Metal. Bands: Urfaust, Dodecahedron or Gnaw Their Tongues. Three examples of three visions of Black Metal. It is remarkable to see that a scene is capable of creating such different and particular forms of a sound.

And my “guests” are like that: their vision is a different one, and is displayed, in front of your eyes, in various ways and shapes. They channel melody wrapped in anger and rage. That rage and anger come from the vocals! A glorious beast that unleashes Hell on Earth, over this tapestry of motions and an odd beauty. There is a very – in my opinion – clear dichotomy, that it ends up when the singing starts. And they both play very well with this “Beauty and the Beast” sort of thing, you know? The way vocals/instruments are placed and fit in each other real works out pretty, pretty well. The use of instruments that, at first glance, would not fit into the genre, such as the saxophone, place them in line with the likes of Fleurety and Virus, when it comes to experimenting outside the borders of musical genres.

Like their previous record, there is melody and more melody, and I find this one to be more… outside the box, when it comes to the Black Metal label. More like… their own sound, I guess.