Victimarum

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Band(s): Victimarum
Label(s): Self-Released
Release Format(s): Digital, Single
Release Year: 2023
Review Date: January 6, 2024
Author(s): VincentP

2023 was a good year for the Finns in Victimarum. Not only did they release their first demo, but just as the year was about to expire, the band came back with yet another release, the two-track single ‘Tyhjyyden Roviolla’.

As the band states on their bandcamp page, the main reason to release this as a single is that it somewhat deviates from the formula on their demo. That aforementioned ‘Demo 2023’ showed a band that strongly admires the work of Horna on the ‘Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne’, ‘Sudentaival’ and ‘Sanojesi Äärelle’ albums mixed with Sargeist’s ‘Satanic Black Devotion’ and a bit of Satanic Warmaster. While I enjoyed that demo and the band’s aptitude to write catchy riffs, it colored perhaps a little bit too much within the proverbial lines set out by their main inspiration. A somewhat hypocritical statement as many bands are far from original, I know. Anyway, on ‘Tyhjyyden Roviolla’ the band does break from that mold a bit more. Once the song starts, the somewhat cleaner tone to the guitars is obvious, but it doesn’t mislead from the typical Finnish Black Metal sound, with thrusting pace and strong subcutaneous melodies. But the subsequent riff with some short strumming then leads into a much more epic sound, and even goes into a clean Dissection meets Immortal riff with spoken sample to add a sinister touch. The remainder of the track continues to combine Horna-esque Black metal with a more epic substance, and indeed one can see why the band thought this deviates from their demo material. Personally, the more dynamic and out of the box formula seems a great step for the band, and I’m curious if this is a sign of a future direction for the band.

The second track on the single is a cover, and fittingly it’s Horna, who Victimarum professes as their main inspiration (good to read I got that one right). ‘Kuoleva Lupaus’ was originally released on ‘Envaatnags Eflos Solf Esgantaavne’ and the cover version of Victimarum stays close to the original. That is, with a fuller production and more diversity in the vocals. While the original version has vocalist Corvus with his trademark diversity in shrieks, Victimarum instead opts for a combination of screams, growls and even some shouting clean vocals. It works well, and the somewhat epic undertone combined with the grasping melodies seems a perfect fit for a cover song, both to highlight Victimarum’s main source of inspiration and to provide a suitable counterpart for their newest single.

There is nothing wrong with worshipping your idols, and Victimarum had shown to be very capable of writing Finnish Black Metal inspired by Horna. On ‘Tyhjyyden Roviolla’ they take that a step into a alternate direction, retaining the raw melodic power while adding an epic tone to the formula. Time will tell whether this is here to stay, but for now it seems a good way to distinguish themselves from the crowd.

VM-UNDERGROUND

Extreme Metal Fanzine est. 2012

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Victimarum – Tyhjyyden Roviolla [Single]

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