The buzz surrounding Weird Fate has been intense since their appearance on a split with the already well-established and well regarded Membaris, at which point the general consensus was that as good as Membaris are, Weird Fate completely blew them out of the woods. After four years of waiting, Weird Fate are now ready to unveil their Meisterwerk in their first full length album ‘The Collapse of All That Has Been’. This was certainly one of those occasions where the weight of expectation could be hugely counterproductive, yet after hearing the three tracks submitted to the split with Membaris, I was more than confident that I would not be disappointed in the result.
Weird Fate play a modern style of black metal, with a focus geared to the material itself rather than how troo you can make it sound by recording the whole thing in one take through a dictaphone in a dustbin. The production here is clear as a bell, yet not so much that it in itself becomes intrusive. Bypassing the obligatory atmospheric intro track, the first track ‘Nacht’ shows that Weird Fate are not only meeting the lofty expectations set, but they have put the past 4 years to good use and have actually matured their sound. Building a layered and intricate soundscape without veering off into symphonic black metal territory requires an exacting composition for all instruments combined with patience, and this is achieved here with ease. The guitars produce a grim sound, with every chord change bringing a sense of foreboding, whilst both bass and drums operate at a slower pace, keeping the listener from getting carried away. Vocally, the rasp is ably if rather standardly delivered by N.W., never veering too far away from a general sneering roar, yet there are more occasional moves into a more anguished and depressive area, which is an area where this album finds itself balancing on the precipice of for its duration.
It’s from the excellent ‘Mirage of a Star’ where the full realisation sinks in as to just how good this album really is, with its furious pacing yet enormous depth, it puts one in mind of ‘Blodhemn’ era Enslaved. Rather strangely, I found the title track to be one of the weaker efforts on here, where intricacy managed to get lost and find itself in a cul-de-sac of cacophony. There’s an excellent song in that one too if they had just reined themselves in a bit, but you can’t have everything and considering the quality of the rest of the material, you can more than forgive a slight slip. Things reach their peak on the excellent ‘In Stile’, which is laden with atmosphere and finds our intrepid singer at his most expressive and versatile.
The majority of tracks on here are between eight and ten minutes in duration, with occasional interludes, so whilst there are 10 tracks on the album, you only really get six actual songs, but never mind the length, feel the width. Weird Fate have not just managed to finally deliver the quality of album that their talent promised, but they have easily surpassed it. It’s certainly one of the best new black metal albums I’ve heard in some years and the mind really does boggle at what they will go on to achieve from here. Don’t miss your opportunity, go and buy this now and get in on the act before everyone else starts talking about them. It’s really quite brilliant.
(8.5/10, Lee Kimber)
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