Formicarius
Rending the Veil of Flesh

Cutting deep into the bloody centuries of Christianity and as they have spread their demon wings lyrically, that is one thing written about British black metallers Formicarius’ new album. And we all know about all the terrorism, evil, abuse and murder that has been and still is committed in the name of Christ. Pretty boring theme though, the name Formicuarius is probably from a book about witchcraft written by a theologian some centuries ago, some bugs are also Formicarius in their latin name. The album is called Rending the Veil of Flesh and it has a decent cover art, so what about the music?

It is black metal, melodic black metal in the same kind of vein of the likes of Dimmu Borgir and Ensiferum – my guess is that they are very inspired by those bands or other bands similar to them. The sound is pretty good, decent melodies, the vocals are typical of the melodic black metal genre, grinding and annoying – like it should be. The album doesn’t offer too much variation, the playing time is decent and it would be fair to claim that they press the right buttons to appeal to the fans of the genre.

It is a decent album with decent songs, but I would not call it an especially special album – pretty boring is more like it. Boring and unoriginal, you could find the album quite appealing if you are a fan of the melodic black metal stuff. If you are one of those black metal fans you might want to have a look at this as chances are that you will find it most appealing, but I doubt it will appeal to a wider audience so if you are the wider audience it could be wise to look at something a bit more interesting.

Not a bad black metal album, it just lacks imagination and therefore it lacks appeal. The fans of melodic black metal might see it differently but there are better choices in that genre as well, perhaps one of those that actually broke new ground in their melodic black metal approach. The best choice is probably not to bother with this album.

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