Reflection of Misery, Contranatura, Nicaragua, Exnihilo Records, ENR07, CD (2023)
Onto their third recording and second album “Contranatura”, and already Reflection of Misery is on the way in becoming a force in blackened death and deserving of much more attention outside the band’s native Nicaragua. This trilogy of dissonant assaults on the human consciousness, detailing a three-stage descent into the deepest realms of Hades where reign chaos and madness, is an ambitious work for a duo that formed in 2020 and which originally went with a black / death style that included plenty of dark ambient experimentation. On “Contranatura”, RoM men Fornost (vocals, lyrics, artwork) and Cuervo (all instruments) now focus on a strict melodic black / death style featuring battering-ram blast-beat percussion, grinding tremolo guitars with a touch of hypnotic jangle, simmering bass and two sets of vocals, one higher pitched than the other guttural set, all etched with enough reverb and ambience to give the music an underground-catacomb atmosphere.
“Low Frequencies of Last Death Rattle from Humankind” establishes the music’s identity and style, and a very fast and densely layered style it is too, with so many things happening at once and competing for our attention. It seems that every instrument and every element on this track is at odds with the rest, and the only thing that can be agreed on is the evil malevolence of it all. Voices growl, groan and rage constantly, the guitars throw out riff after riff after riff, each of which would be worth its weight in gold if the duo gave more attention to it by repeating it more often than they do, and the drums thrash out one explosion of crashing cymbals and juddering beats after another. Yet the song is much more focused and steadfast in its nearly 16-minute journey than you’d expect, even with the odd pause or distraction that comes later in the track, and you find yourself following the music all the way through the first layers of Hell. What you might particularly like about the track too is the level of attention the musicians give to its ambient introduction and coda that cast the track as a soundtrack to a short horror film.
“We, Vultures, Feeding Iniquity with your Infants’ Guts” takes you even deeper into Hell with an off-key discombobulating guitar instrumental introduction that then throws you into the roiling, boiling cauldron of maddening horde-of-hornets guitar cacophony and strangled vocals. Here is some of the most inventive music to be found in black / death as RoM go a bit jazzy in parts and experiment with their instruments’ capabilities and range of sounds, and the very structures of black and death metal as well. Dissonant chords and keys you didn’t know could exist fly out from Cuervo’s fingers and disappear into the darkness before you can catch your breath. The experimentation serves to increase tension and concentrate listeners’ attention on where the musicians might go next, which detour into the lower depths of Hell they might take. In the track’s dying moments, RoM almost go all-out industrial ambient with an ominous droning rhythm and a choir of inhuman creaking choristers.
The final track is a straight-out blackened death machine monster operating with a sick twisted mind of its own, mowing down all in its path and absorbing whatever damned demons get in its way, their screams and howls being all that is left of them as they disappear down the monster’s maw. There’s still some experimentation with sound and atmosphere but much of the track focuses on building up to a stupendous conclusion (with some brief side-tracking along the way) which is relentless and heavy-going, and not always interesting to follow after the variety of music the musicians delivered on the previous two tracks.
In their details, the three tracks turn out slightly different from one another beneath the onslaught of guitars, percussion battery, multi-tracked vocals and a darkly hellish atmosphere. By far the best track is the middle track with its experimental outlook and the far-reaching music that results. If there is one thing that could improve this album, that would surely be a better recording studio with the equipment and facilities that could give the album more power and depth, though that would probably change the album’s sound and the balance of instruments and elements in the music. As it is, the production on the album, basic as it is, allows every instrument and every voice to be heard clearly, and gives the album a clear, if sinister tomb-like atmosphere.
If RoM can maintain the standard reached on “Contranatura”, the next album will surely be the duo’s masterpiece breakout work.