THY CATAFALQUE — Rengeteg (review)

THY CATAFALQUE — Rengeteg album cover Album · 2011 · Avant-garde Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
bartosso
A forest of sounds

Tamás Kátai, the mastermind of Hungarian experimental, post-black metal, eastern European folk... *breath*... industrial, "space rock" metal band Thy Catafalque has a truly intriguing vision of his music. Having recorded four albums before Rengeteg, it's actually the first one released by a major record label, namely french/american Season of Mist. And well, I must admit that it's one of the most interesting metal albums I have heard lately.

The record is produced in a professional way which means the sound is clear, fairly selective yet not overproduced or artificial. Distortion is heavy, a little bit fuzzy, kind of reminding me of sludge and industrial metal. Same for computer generated drums. Besides heavy distortion, Thy Catafalque uses a whole range of guitar sounds - from soft space rock overdrive to occasional classical guitar nylon strumming. The vocalist is one of the most intriguing aspects of Rengeteg. Mostly clean, folk-influenced vocals with a few shrieked parts here and there are very well performed. However, it's a presence of various synthesizers and space rock sound effects that determine Thy Catafalque's uniqueness in terms of sound and ambiance.

For an avant-garde metal album, Rengeteg is surprisingly accessible. The most prominent element here is Hungarian folk that pervades the whole thing with unique atmosphere. All the more so because it's combined with some truly otherworldly atmosphere of space rock in the vain of Ozric Tentacles. Experimental approach to composition and general diversity of moods completed the task - Rengeteg is a very successful release and an excellent addition to any metal music collection. Despite having many masterpiece qualities, it's got its fair share of problems. First of all, some cheap sounding parts could have been avoided. Some artificially sounding synthesizers could have been replaced with real instruments ("violin" part in Kő koppan spoiled it for me). Some underdeveloped ideas could have reached the masterpiece level if developed (e.g.: "Kel keleti szél", "Kék ingem lobogó"). And finally, some songs could have been better composed and cleansed of generic riffing (e.g.: "Vashegyek").

I really like that album despite all the things I've just said. It's a great record and for its undeniable originality and genuine emotional charge it certainly deserves all the praise it got from the community. Essential for avant-garde, post-black metal, dark folk and atmospheric music enthusiasts in general.
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