After a couple of demos, a live album and a split Minnesota’s Maledicere conjure up this first blackened effort in Leave Only What is Fit to Burn, which I admit is a title that is quite cool. Starry-eyed compliments and impressions aside, it’s the music herein that lays a solid foundation of battered and jagged cobblestone on the path to dark metal majesty.

The “Intro” starts off a little bewildering, seemingly a spasmodic shock to the system that isn’t detrimental to the expectations, and once “There Are Wolves” pummels through the speakers all seems right with the room again. What I immediately like about Maledicere is the lack of blatant embellishment with its music. There are certainly black metal elements to the album, sure, but I also find the trace evidence of doom and death metal two necessary ingredients to the mix. The shredding guitar work is of course an indelible parcel within this offering that often reminds me of Demoncy in a vastly more produced fashion. Granted, Demoncy is an entity of rough skin all its own, but a feel from Joined in Darkness is slightly evident here, especially in “Harvest”, though everything is subjective. Maledicere certainly relies on no one to hone its sound, even if it is a familiar one in this day.

Vocally we get the standard harsh delivery that is expected and pretty much obligatory at this point, but what works should never be altered to appease any one small milieu. The rash style is what catapults this movement above the rest and wrestles into submission the very fiber that makes up our evil counterpart and defines the genre. Musically, I find a tight sound that isn’t over-polished or selfish with its production. The drumming is of particular note, as the drums seem to be mixed to a better degree than the last three albums I’ve heard in my car! Whereas a million Marduk or Dissection clones are popping up from every basement in the free world, the relished switch from chaotic to slower, introspective frenzy, as in “Hail the Black Faith” where the creative crevices widen with each transitional shift underfoot. At one point you’re galloping at top speed through brush fires and misty green lands, only to find yourself panting and suffocating from under the density of foggy, dim intervals that subjugate your senses even more than the speedy visages you just passed with fervor and mild trepidation. It’s a wild experience that can be had if you’re so inclined to ingest such a majestic venture in one sitting. When music can do that for me I am happy to revisit a particular album with hopes of reliving such panoramic fantasy. This is what makes our music so sincere and engaging. Try to imagine such visuals if you can wrap your head around a “Teenage Dream” or…I honestly can’t think of a Justin Bieber track, so insert your own insipid pop tart track at will.

Maledicere is a fine foray into the metal underbelly we so covet and protect. If given an opportunity the band will grow and find a larger audience that will offer total adoration when it receives the proper amount of honesty and musical tangibility. In a give/take situation only the best of both worlds can be found here.  

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Intro
2.  There Are Wolves
3.  Blood of the Lamb upon
     Our Hands
4.  Interlude
5.  Harvest
6.  Hail the Black Faith
7.  Interlude
8.  What Is Fit to Burn
9.  Interlude
10.  Transendence and
        Death's Bloom

Total playing time:  59:54

Release Date: June 18, 2011
Label: Antitheist Disseminations

Maledicere - Leave Only What is Fit to Burn

Reviewer: Chris

December 27, 2011