Vesania - _Distractive Killusions_
(Napalm Records, 2007)
by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10)
Far be it for me for me to extol a narrow minded "purist" viewpoint in blackened matters, as their thought leaders tend to limit black metal to recycled Darkthrone and Burzum, but I nonetheless have difficulty accepting this as black metal. Since when did black metal have such lush production? Those looking for a blasting blizzard of Nordic iciness are strongly advised to look elsewhere, as this is another addition to the overflowing Dimmu Borgir bandwagon.

Although Vesania was unfamiliar to me, their members have a strong pedigree: vocalist and guitarist Orion is the bassist for Behemoth, whilst drummer Daray is in Vader. With members in the leading Polish death outfits, death metal influences are inevitably present, but without interfering with their highly bombastic key tinkling. Without access to an orchestra, their symphonics lack the nuances of Dimmu Borgir, but succeed in maintaining an overwhelming pompous atmosphere.

The preceding paragraph is a tad misleading however, as this is a rather excellent entrant to the genre; I would still be listening to Dimmu Borgir if they produced material of this calibre. The overt bombast of "Narrenschyff" and "Hell Is for Children" is superb, and their melding of death and black is superb, rarely venturing into incoherence or incongruity. Their tendency to combine two words to form a third, (eg: "Killusions"; "Cryscendo") is annoying, but no worse than a certain Norwegian band's proclivity for forming titles from three unrelated multi-syllable words.

Vesania may be part of the bandwagon, but with _Distractive Killusions_ it becomes evident that they are holding the reins relinquished by Dimmu Borgir. Some may dismiss this as "faggoth", but why care that they do? I still maintain that this is not black metal, but it's a good reference point; and with the right promotion, Vesania may come to be mentioned in the same breath as their parent bands.

Contact: http://www.vesania.pl

(article published 26/1/2008)


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