Melencolia Estatica – “Hel” (2012)

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Label : Temple of Torturous

Review by Davide Torresan

The name of this band is very curious. The word “Melencolia” has Greek origins. It derives from “mélas” (black) and “cholé” (bile). According to the Greek and Roman medicine, the black bile is one of the four moods that may combine with each other, and these combinations would create people’s character. The excess of the black bile would cause the melancholy (the equivalent in Italian is “melancolia”), and ecstasy at its extreme. This is the meaning of the word “Estatica“. The particularity of this band is the line-up. The only permanent member is Climaxia, and she’s surrounded by session members. They have different names: Afthenktos, Noxifero, Anamnesi and Thorns.

Since the beginning, they have been playing a classical Norwegian black metal with dark depressive shades. They used heavy guitar’s riffs, screaming vocals and pounding drums.After the self-titled debut they achieved a good reputation in the Italian black metal underground with the album “Letum”. This one is characterized by a raw production and it’s a good sample of black metal with melodic digressions. Maybe they are too few, so the listening to the album results hard and difficult. They get the squaring of the circle with this “Hel”. The purists of the genre won’t like it for sure, but someone else will do. Black metal is always present but in smaller quantities. They have travelled the path of contamination with new sounds to break the brutality of their sound. Nothing is original, but the semblance of melody became real.

You’ll find athmospheric parts with gothic shades, synths and female vocal orchestrations. The spoken parts give a decadent and dramatic tone. All this is closely linked to black metal, although the production is less raw than in the previous album.  From the point of view of the themes, “Hel” is very interesting. Indeed, it is inspired by “Metropolis”, the masterpiece of the Austrian director Fitz Lang. Modernization and industrialization are only plagues to which men are slaves. Dark visions and slavery is the only future. You can understand it by watching “Hel”‘s artwork and by the feelings that it transmits. The solution is the fight against machines and the greyness of factories. In conclusion, I can definitely recommend this album. I am curious to know if with the next job they will be able to further develop their sound.

Rating – 80/100

 

Tracklist

  1. HEL I
  2. HEL II
  3. HEL III
  4. HEL IV
  5. HEL V
  6. HEL VI

 

Line Up

  • Climaxia – Guitars
  • Afthenktos – Vocals
  • Noxifero – Guitars
  • Thorns – Drums

 

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