Living in Cambridge, I’d given up on the idea there were any decent local metal bands. It may have an international folk festival but it’s a metal desert. Of course there’s Fen, The Infernal Sea, Eastern Front, Black Polaris and various emigrés from Wisbech lurking on the geographical fringes, but now there’s a black metal band called Terra on my doorstep. As I chase round the world looking for atmospheric inspiration, it shames me to say I’d never heard of them, nor therefore of their 2015 self-titled first album.
On the face of it, the fare is very simple: Two long tracks, “Apotheosis” and “Nadir”. I like this. No messing about changing acts and scenes. As I had hoped, a massive wall is created. I could feel the frosty fog coming in, as the post metal atmosphere descends. Then there is violence and intensity. Distant screams can occasionally be heard. “Apotheosis” is a developing set of darkly forming shapes and images. Now and then it will linger, but the drum tap and crusty guitar pull it along. Around twelve minutes in, it breaks out into ever heavy melancholic majesty. It is always fluid, forward-thrusting and cohesive. Agonising and prolonged screams punctuate the dark soundscape. We’re not a million miles from the musical territory of Fen here but this is darker, heavier and less paganised. Black clouds swirl as “Apotheosis” remorselessly ploughs on in its gargantuan but controlled way. An industrial cosmic wall brings it to an end.
Breath taken, and we embark upon “Nadir”. This 20 minute journey starts thunderously and violently. Prolonged screams accentuate the majestic violence, which the drum and guitarists evoke. Like “Apotheosis”, this is a very dark whirlwind, which has no intention of stopping. Dynamic black metal intensity pours out from every speaker. The atmosphere is bleak and horrifying. What pulls me in the progression of the grim story, which the music tells as it depicts layer upon layer of intense darkness. The track finally breaks down into hefty downward spirals before ending on a solemn note.
“Mors Secunda” is an intensely interesting and enjoyable atmospheric black metal album, on which Terra demonstrate and communicate their musical vision clearly. There’s a kind of perfection about the structure of this, which could be a disadvantage when depicting a chaotic world, but it’s remarkable how the band builds pictures and brings all the complex threads together. At no point does this album hit an inappropriate note or digress towards a dead end. Terra are a powerful and most welcome addition to the UK metal scene.
(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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