Transient Thoughts 011 - The Amenta - Occasus

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The Amenta - Occasus

 

Much has been made of the inhumanity of war.  Death is now dispensed automatically by droids that know not fear nor remorse.  An unstoppable force that will not yield until its programming has finished: every last living being has been eradicated.


If Occasus is a weapon then The Amenta are its inventor.  I have yet to hear another album that comes as close as Occasus does to being truly brutal… cold… murderous. The music has but one goal, to eliminate anything and anyone standing in its path.

The compositions contained within this album are difficult to place into a singular genre of extreme metal.  There are touches of death metal, black metal, and industrial metal.  They are mixed together so well that they form a musical alloy, impossible to separate once combined, no longer able to take on their initial forms.  

The riffing is exact and mechanical, nearly devoid of all life and melody.  The drums are processed to the extreme, sounding as inhuman as possible.  The vocals are monotone and barked.  There is no clean singing or even a hint of it found anywhere within the confines of Occasus.

That’s not to say that everything here is mechanical and lifeless.  There are small glimpses of melody sprinkled throughout the run time.  The song Nihil for instance contains a powerful chorus that instantly stands out due to its blatant melodic nature. Other instances occur, either through the use of a lead guitar, electronics, or further use of keyboards, however those occasions are rare.

Everything on this album is calculated.  There is not a single note that does not belong, a single passage that was not measured and exacted exactly according to its specifications.  Not a single word spoken that is out of place, or with any hint of emotion or inflection.  

I feel the vocals deserve particular mention here.  Cesium 137 delivers the lyrics with such a consistent cold quality that they truly are a highlight.  Without the consistent roar of the vocals the album would not nearly be as intense as it is with their inclusion.  

Occasus is a weapon of war.  The Amenta wield it without regard for life and with exceeding malice.  They have created a truly timeless album, one that sounds as fresh today as the moment of its release many years ago.  

“Screams deafen with absence
Smell of life escaping
Boiling in twisted vein
Glisten on cold starlit metal”

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