Review: Death Karma - The History of Death and Burial Rituals Part 1
By Chris Reinbold, Staff Writer
[Iron Bonehead; 2015]
Rating: 3.5/10
Key Tracks: “Slovakia – Journey of the Soul,” “Madagascar – Famadihana”
Death Karma is a black metal duo hailing from Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic. The masterminds behind Death Karm are Infernal Vlad and Tom Coroner of Cult of Fire. After their most recent musical dwellings in eastern, classical and drone metal, the duo has taken a break from Cult of Fire to focus on Death Karma.
Death Karma leaves nothing open to interpretation with its 2015 release, The History of Death and Burial Rituals Part 1. The entire album focuses on exactly what its title spells out--death and burial rituals. This album is as brutal as being tortured and then buried alive.
The album begins with arguably its strongest, albeit longest, track, clocking in just short of eight minutes. “Slovakia – Journey of the Soul” begins with a campy harpsichord intro that would not be out of place in track by goth-metalists Type O Negative. Over the harpsichord comes a Slovakian spoken word passage that builds the tension for the listener. Then comes the first unrelenting aural beatdown.
Unfortunately, there is not much musical variation beyond the never-ending blast beats and Vlad’s black metal growls, which sometimes falter and sound like a half-gargle. The guitar and synthesizer sit in the background, providing some much needed ear candy in the form of bells and chimes, in addition to ascending guitar runs. The track devolves from earsplitting brutality to Ulver level atmospherics, which actually prove to be the most pleasing part of the album.
“Madagascar – Famadihana” takes the relief the atmospherics provided by the “Slovakia” outro and quickly build the tension with an eerily angular figure on the keyboards. This pattern forms a foundation for a triumphant, almost power metal-style chord progression to sit overtop. But after this, the song begins to stagnate.
A palm-muted chug motif and the inescapable blast beats prevail. The next “movement” provides some relief with a tremolo picked descending-ascending-descending pattern on guitar that is more precise than even the most expert marksman. Again, blast beats overpower the other instruments and the vocals gargle their way to the foreground.
The History of Death and Burial Rituals Part 1 is not a completely dreadful listen. The musicianship that Vlad and Coroner exhibit is incredibly virtuosic, to the point where it sounds robotic. For extreme metal bands, though, this is a goal. Compositionally, the duo has a lot of work to do. The track “Mexico – Chichén Itzá” spans roughly seven minutes and in this time, Death Karma only explores three different themes with a miniscule, if any, amount of variation within each.
Each track would have been significantly more interesting if it were cut down to half of the actual run time. Production-wise, Death Karma does not exhibit interest in typical lo-fi recording. The mix is most similar to pop music with the vocals and percussion at the front. With black metal, though, this can lead to a major headache.
