Yes indeed looking at those random meaningless words you are hardly expected to have a clue what this is all about. What we have though is a one man black metal project helmed by Emil Togrul from Turkey, whom we are informed is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and film maker. Fair enough then. I had been listening to this via the download when the disc itself came through the door. This was handy in a lot of respects as Emil puts a lot into this as well as the music itself, spraying the discs himself and illustrating inserts etc personally. I guess mine was the promo version which interestingly came with a sticker sealing the plastic wallet which stated “within the chains there lies nothing.” With the lyric sheet there were some illustrations too, adding further to the personal touch.
It is the music that of course is the most important and what we get are three very long tracks wrapped at both ends by instrumental pieces, the opening one Integumental Grasp’ being particularly gloomy and atmospheric with a filmic feel and harmoniously mournful wind chimes perpetuating the moribund void. After this we plummet into ‘Through The Sigil Of Hate,’ which does as it states with a rage and hateful maelstrom of coruscating instruments and hollow booming vocals. Unfortunately the mix and recording is just not up to the job and bass sound overrides leaving guitars low in the mix and sharper tones generally not getting through as well as they should. It’s a shame as there is plenty of promise here but I find it an uncomfortable listen for all the wrong reasons. The track slows, it has plenty of time over almost 13 minutes but the slow-down sees it plod in quite a directionless fashion, there is certainly a spark missing here. Going between the two speeds this drags too much and it’s a case of less is sometimes more and this really does outstay its welcome. Next ‘Immortalizing The Nine’ is even more epic but it does somewhat see a change stylistically going for a more minimal approach. This does it the favour of having more clarity sound-wise although it is quickly evident that the style is not a unique one and this cadaverous tortured plod owes much to Xasthur It is still too muddy and murky to particularly satisfy but as it evolves some interesting melody breaks through and takes it away from the style of Malefic into a strange stumbling and long drawn out tribal drum rhythm. By the time this limps to the end though with more repetitive Xasthurian jagged riffs one is really reaching for the razor blades and all for the wrong reasons.
So to the last of the epic tracks ‘Disguises Of Evil’ at 15 minutes. Long hits a stride quite quickly and has a more robust feel to it although again taking the repetitive route as far as the somewhat mesmerising riffs are concerned. I would say this is the best track here, it flows well despite the length and really involves the listener with memorable melody. It feels somewhat more Scandinavian too and is doing well up until a messy mid section where it feels like all the instruments are at odds with each other.
I really feel like I have struggled with this one, I have wanted to like it more, especially due to the personal approach and it is obvious there is a fair amount of passion behind it all. For me the main stumbling block was definitely the overall sound and then the length of the tracks. Although by no means is this a complete disaster I hope that the next release sees a marked improvement overall.
(5.5/10 Pete Woods)
http://merdumgiriz.org/Yayla_Official.html
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