Band:	Anomalie
Album:	Refugium
Style:	Black metal, Post-metal
Release date:	November 20, 2015
A review by:	tea[m]ster

01. In Fear Of Tomorrow
02. Spiritual Distortion
03. Untouched Walls
04. Between Reality And The World Beyond
05. Solace
06. Leaving Somnia
07. Freiflug 48° 23´ N, 16° 19' O
08. Refugium

When checking out the potential review list for albums here at MS I always look for "post" in the label/description, of course. Anomalie has "post metal" as one of its genre tags. Ok, I'm in. Not knowing anything about the band, I first did a little google searching before pressing play. Two important facts were discovered while meandering the internet. First, the band is a one-man band and second, he has worked with Harakiri For The Sky.

I say one-man band loosely because checking out the spread sheet on Anomalie, hailing from Austria, it lists a variety of studio/guest musicians. Heck, even the header on their MS page shows 6 men. So expecting a big sound from a major project is not out of the question. The founder of the band and project leader, Marrok, has played guitars and sung some backing vocals live with Harakiri For The Sky, a fellow partner signed to Art Of Propaganda records. Bingo, now I know what kind of din to expect on Refugium, the band's second release. I finally press play and there it is: A melodic/post black foundation teetering gently back and forth with metalgaze/shoegaze parts, and it sounds delicious.

Instead of using a fancy array of adjectives and a thesaurus to describe the music, the best way to this time is by using other bands as a crutch because it's too easy to pass up. I hear Insomnium, Fen, and Alcest at different points through out Refugium. Blast-beat and double-bass drums, tremelo-picked and gorgeously textured riffs, dense bass guitar, and death metal-ish growls for vocals. Acoustic guitars, clean singing, and electronics make occassional appearances. The sound is far from original, but is very contagious and done well. Alas, the post black guitar tone is my favorite mechanism on the album. Neige started it, Markus Siegenhort has perfected it, and Marrok lies somewhere in between.

Refugium is exactly the kind of album I am in love with at this particular juncture of my musical explorations. The songs are all different, memorable, and employ a distinctive blend of atmosphere. The clean, melodic sound melds together smoothly with brashness in a merely refreshing execution. I really can't say anything negative about the album. Maybe the lack of originality, but because this type of music has me so brainwashed, and when it's executed this well... did I say I am in love with this sound?

Live it and breathe it here.