Year: 2021
Total Time: 58:53
Label: Iron Forest
In our age when digital platforms almost rule the music industry, we are accustomed to listen to numerous releases every month. We are searching for the new, the ground-breaking material to introduce it to our readers here in the gallery and there are times we almost forget that the purpose of every kind of art is to express its creator and to communicate a message (even when there’s no message intended, art communicates its absence).
TADRIGADA play a very well structured atmospheric black metal. They do it so well that you think it almost comes naturally to them. When you pay attention to the orchestration and the melodic ideas, however, it’s easy to understand that their second full length album has a lot of thought and hard work put into it. It’s certainly not ground-braking, but it’s a hell of an album.
The three-piece from Switzerland are Threnos (guitar/vocals), Kryptos (guitar/vocals) and H.A.T.T. (drums) and their ability in composing and arranging truly epic and melancholic music is outstanding. “Vom Bruch Bis Zur Freiheit” (in English “From Break/Fracture to Freedom”) is structured like its predecessor, their 2016 debut “Emotionale Ödinis”: There are numbered interludes or “acts” that lead to songs. The fact that in their debut we have 5 acts and the second starts from act 6, leads me to believe that there’s some kind of thematic connection between the two albums, nevertheless, this is just an assumption as I don’t understand the lyrics written by Threnos in their Swiss-German dialect.
The wall of sound produced by multi-layered guitars and a pad-like orchestra, in addition to the use of a huge reverb create an ever-flowing stream of sound. The excellent drumming holds together the whole as a spine and the bass guitar recorded by the session member T. compliments and from time to time contrasts the guitars providing further contrapuntal qualities to the compositions. The vocals are excellent with Threnos taking the mid-range while Kryptos is handling the higher registers. Their sound especially in their interludes brings to mind the darkest moments of bands such as GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR, while during the songs one can find influences from bands such as ΠΥΤb, AUSTERE or LUNAR AURORA.
“Vom Bruch bis zur Freiheit” was recorded at Iguana Studios and mixed and mastered by Christoph Brandes, as was the album’s predecessor. The artwork was created by the artist Vincent and it depicts metaphorically the album’s theme: The collapse and decomposition of all and its eventual release into freedom.
In the album’s 8 tracks and 59 minutes TARDIGRADA don’t reinvent the weal. They take the listener out on a voyage through the planes of introspection and melancholy, they set up the mood and they lead the way. I strongly suggest you to take a dive into their world.
Rating: 7.5/10
Editor: Yiannis Tziallas
Related Link: TARDIGRADA – Facebook Page
