Today in incredibly weird things to come from Norway we have the latest from Devar, a black metal-derived project that traces its roots back to 2002 and has connections throughout the incredibly rich Bergen scene. It's full of old school black metal influences matched with 70's prog, weird art rock fused with driving heavy metal and tormented King Diamond-esque vocals with stranger and more nasal clean stuff. It's a difficult record to really wrap your head around, but it's also a surprisingly easy one to wind up falling in love with. Mausoleum is an album that challenges expectations; while it certainly fits into the world of black metal it's also unafraid to navigate far outside of that realm, hinting at far darker and more transcendent things. There's an ethereal beauty to the record that you can't truly put into words, and one which forces us to re-evaluate what black metal can really be. Much as bands like Sigh forced us to look at the utility of jazz and avant-garde techniques, Devar brings the listener face to face with some of the strangest moments of the 70's.
I think what really gets me about Mausoleum is the melodic content. From top to bottom it's just a little too weird, hinting at strange realities I'm not always totally comfortable with, and forcing you to ask strange questions about how black metal has come to be defined in these past few years. While this often helps to define the band, the sense of alienation you get is occasionally pushing the envelope too far. There is a lot to unpack with any given Devar song, not just because of the layers within the songwriting itself, but also because of the subversion of black metal as a genre that we see going on here. With any band that takes eight years between records there is going to be a certain intensity behind the music. There is going to be that sentiment that this is a very rare, or perhaps even last, chance that you will have to enjoy a fresh record from the band. It's going to imply a certain degree of fetishization that you just have to accept as a fan of the band. This is part of the beauty of Mausoleum though: for Devar not to be painting stories of Lovecraftian apocalypses and life ending madness would be wrong.
So if you're into this sort of thing, then you're going to inevitably find yourself pouring over what Devar has unleashed upon us here. This is the sort of band who don't need your blessing nor do they want it. Rather they have pieced together a legacy of torment and destruction, violating the listener but also reminding them that anyone who tries to categorize or compartmentalize black metal is going to very rapidly run into issues. Devar as a band has always been a stirring "fuck you" to the more orthodox cult that dominates the scene. It's easy to get lost in what they have crafted on Mausoleum and the incredible diversity that this record represents only makes me hungry for more. Few bands really embrace the vast array of possibilities that extreme music has these days, and it's only by breaking the rules that we can truly push for greatness.
Score: 8/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJxgwkN7wkA&feature=youtu.be
