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Terra Tenebrosa - The Reverses review



Reviewer:
N/A

80 users:
7.62
Band: Terra Tenebrosa
Album: The Reverses
Release date: June 2016


01. Makoria
02. Ghost At The End Of The Rope
03. The End Is Mine To Ride
04. Marmorisation
05. Where Shadows Have Teeth
06. Exuvia
07. Fire Dances

There's not much that can be easily understood in the bizarre, nightmarish world of Terra Tenebrosa. Then again, perhaps there's not much that's really meant to be. After two full lengths and an EP, fans of the band may eagerly be wondering what the next step is, and if The Reverses provides any clues that make the picture these eerie Swedes paint any clearer. Come, children, and we shall find out by traveling through the rabbit hole yet again. And by "rabbit hole," I mean vortex.

The Reverses could very well be the most cohesive representation of Terra Tenebrosa's sound yet, the one that feels the most as if it allows all aspects of their identity to breathe. As prior fans of the band would probably agree, it's quite easy to simply refer to their formula as Avantgarde metal. Yet if we want to get specific about it, this idiosyncratic approach is something of a swirling maelstrom of industrial, sludge, black metal, and droney, dark ambient influences, thrown into a vicious blender and poured out in a final, entrancingly haunting result. Terra Tenebrosa at first seemed to go more in the dark ambient direction on their debut The Tunnels, then shift more to the industrial/sludge agenda on The Purging, and upon first listen, it appears as though The Reverses seems to balance these two approaches out, being more of a mix of a two than anything else. As we all know, however, first impressions can be faulty.

With many bands that fuse a large number of genres together into their final sound, what you often see happening is that certain tracks on their albums lean more towards one genre over the others, but this is simply not the case with Terra Tenebrosa, especially on The Reverses. Whether the band went more for the sound of their debut or their sophomore effort here is a mystery, one that may drive you mad trying to decipher. At times the music can be extremely catchy, riff-heavy, and bouncy, more like The Purging, but it also oozes of the more ethereal influences of black metal and dark ambient found on The Tunnels. No tracks settle on one stylistic influence over another, and as soon as you feel that one is taking precedence, another pops in and proves you wrong (best examples being "Marmorisation" and the massive "Fire Dances"). This is the mark of spectacular Avantgarde songwriting: the fusion of many different techniques towards the creation of a simply indecipherable whole.

As with previous Terra Tenebrosa albums, The Reverses is a riddle, one that only seems to get more difficult the more you attempt to figure it out. But on this album, the riddle seems more puzzling than ever, as it feels as though the band have finally come into full force with the creation of what could very well be the finest blend of their various influences yet. While The Tunnels and The Purging were certainly not bad albums by any means, The Reverses feels more mature, as if it's the album Terra Tenebrosa always wanted to make, but somehow didn't manage to until now. They have gone deeper into the abyss, further towards the aether and the black clouds of the unknown. And what they've returned with is nothing short of stunning.

Is the music going in reverse? Or is your brain? Only one way to find out.





Written on 24.06.2016 by Metal Storm’s own Babalao. Comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable since 2013.


Comments

Comments: 8   Visited by: 174 users
24.06.2016 - 04:23
Lou Rambler

Very nice review, but why don't you rate it?
I agree avantgarde metal is not enough to describe it, but who cares the genre if the music is such good? I must say I'm a newcomer to Terra Tenebrosa, but I really love this album...
Cheers
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24.06.2016 - 04:37
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by Lou Rambler on 24.06.2016 at 04:23

Very nice review, but why don't you rate it?

I don't use N/A that often on here, but when I do I use it when I feel as though something is just too nonstandard and out of the box to be compared against any type of standardized rating system. I can't really say "good job on playing X style well, you get a 9!" when said style being created is entirely unique to the band in question, and I think that's the case with Terra Tenebrosa. I've used it in the past as well with Botanist, The Body, Sunn O))), and a few others, who I think have also created their own sounds that no other other bands have. I suppose you could always just think of rating each album on its own basis alone, without really comparing it to anything else, but in my experience that's very difficult. When reviewing an album, your mind almost inevitably makes comparisons to what other bands/albums are similar, and then uses its idea of how the album measures up against that for a final rating. N/A is my way of saying "this is peculiar to the point of defying rating, because there's simply nothing else to compare it to"
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I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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24.06.2016 - 06:12
Lou Rambler

Written by Auntie Sahar on 24.06.2016 at 04:37

I suppose you could always just think of rating each album on its own basis alone, without really comparing it to anything else


I don't make reviews, but from the outside it seems easier to me to rate an album that way...
Anyway, from your review i understand that you enjoy the album and that you think it is, at least, a very good album... so this could be a kind of rating...
Thanks for the explanation
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24.06.2016 - 20:14
RockSplendid

Very very unique and awesome album! Best of their bests and immensely difficult to crack it open as in your great review also mentioned!

The most terrifying experience with them as well! So dark and hauntingly interwoven tracks!

Last track; nothing less than a dark journey of all you want from TT!
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26.06.2016 - 21:38
LuciferOfGayness
Account deleted
Great review again.

I like the sound image - but overall the album seems a bit lightweight to me. The last song is very good but the rest could have been a bit more complex. If you would rate this guys, what would you give it for songwriting?
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26.06.2016 - 21:57
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Written by Guest on 26.06.2016 at 21:38

Great review again.

I like the sound image - but overall the album seems a bit lightweight to me. The last song is very good but the rest could have been a bit more complex. If you would rate this guys, what would you give it for songwriting?

I agree that the last song is probably the most complex one here, but that isn't to say that the others aren't complex and very multidimensional in their own rights. As I said in the review, you can find hints of sludge, industrial, BM, drone, and dark ambient in all the tracks here. Some bring one of those styles out more than others, but they're all there. You just have to really listen for them.

If I had to give sub-ratings for this album, probably 9s for songwriting, performance, and production, and then a 10 for originality, because this really just doesn't sound like anything else I can think of, at least not right off the top of my head. And I think most people would agree
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I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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05.07.2016 - 17:50
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
A big issue whit this band is they visual effects, it scares me away ....
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Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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08.07.2016 - 17:58
VIG
Account deleted
For some reason i couldn't enjoy this album as much as everyone else did. it's alright though
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