Altar Of Plagues - Mammal (2011)

Band: Altar Of Plagues
Album: Mammal
Year: 2011
Country: Ireland
I've followed Altar Of Plagues since their first full length-album, and their development is so interesting to follow. Ever since their demo, when they mostly were extremely influenced by Wolves In The Throne Room, you can hear that they have the potential to make something great that's never really been done before. And for every release they've done, they've gotten closer to that.
Altar Of Plagues has their own sound, but it twists and turns a bit from every album, so you can never foresee anything. When I heard the atmosphericness in the first few seconds of the album, I could not imagine the intenseness that would follow. And those are the key words for the whole album. You'll get escorted into this repetitive atmospheric part, and then all of a sudden, you just get carried away in the speed of darkness. Some may probably say that this album is too repetitive with these parts, since the tracks are also quite long, but they haven't understood the patterns of this journey Altar Of Plagues will serve you.
I also know that some people have commented on the production of this. This album is very well produced, but they don't do it the common way. Their drums are set very high, the guitars are quite low, and the vocals are really distant. It sounds like they come from a man screaming out his desperation alone in the woods. I just think it sets the whole album.

Song(s) you should listen to: Well, I got this album yesterday, confirmed that it was really good, and uploaded it. Therefore I would say that you should just listen to the album from the beginning to the end, but some song will maybe grow you a favourite after a couple of listenings. The first track - Neptune Is Dead, will blow your mind though. The Sun Drowns In The Ocean is very experimental, with a humming and joiking woman together with an atmospheric mood. I could imagine many would skip this track, because it's very unexpected, to say the least. But the end of the song flows perfectly into the last track All Life Converges To Some Center, which I really adore. I actually got tears in my eyes while listening to it, it's really beautiful.

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Altar Of Plagues - Sol (2008)

Band: Altar Of Plagues

Album: Sol

Year: 2008
Country: Ireland
If you're the kind of person who gives a fuck about the environment, people starving, and those kinds of things fat lazy politicians are causing by sitting on their thrones doing nothing but eating tortured pig pork and expensive chocolate reaped by poor African children, Altar Of Plagues maybe will be something for you. It will maybe also suit you if you're the kind or person who pretends to care about that because it's trendy.
I won't deny that Altar Of Plagues will grow into a trendy band, if they're not already considered as one. Somewhere around 2006 they probably discovered that Wolves In The Throne Room made a huge success with their first full length album of environmental hippie black metal, so they decided to kind of copy them. And add some influences of other successful epic sludge bands such as Neurosis, Isis, etc.
But, Altar Of Plagues is definately not a bad band. This EP is their second release, and naturally it's a bit more dirty and less refined than their last two releases (White Tomb (2009), and Tides(2010)). Therefore my personal opinion is that this isn't their best release, but they found their trademark; modern Black Metal very influenced by Sludge, Doom, and Post-Metal. It's not very trve, if you prefer corpse painted warriors fighting each other with sticks in the woods of Norway, but it will leave you with an impression. And if Sol is the first thing you've heard of Altar Of Plagues, you will expect shitloads from their later releases.

Song(s) you should listen to: With Fire In Our Veins We Drown In Light is the song that includes the most genre crossings on this EP I guess. It starts off with a really catcy post intro, then evolving into an anthem-ish part where two singers sings something that would probably sound cheesy if it was written down. Then the song evolves a tons of times into tons of different parts, which is quite good for a reason, since the song is about 14 minutes long. But sometimes it involves into things that you don't really understand (like at 08.29, it starts off pretty good, but ends in a total disaster).
There are two or three vocalists on this track, and the one who starts to sing at 02.35 will maybe be disliked by some people because it sounds like a young teenage boy in complete desperation. I, on the other hand, thinks these vocals are quite interesting, probably mostly because of the desperation level, but also because it's so not expected.

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