Animus Herilis
Recipere Ferum
6
Synopsis:
Black Metal from France that tries really hard, but somehow falls short.
Review:
The following is a quote from the members of Animus Herilis:
“Black Art does not need especially evolution, just sincerity”
Does Recipere Ferum fit the above quote? Upon reflection, I suppose it does. It has definite nods to classic blazing Black Metal, and after repeated listens I can definitely say the members are playing with genuine fervor, but the album falls short of being anything dynamic, or worth spending hard-earned cash on. That’s the bottom line. And this is coming from a guy that loves under-produced, filthy, deranged, ear-exploding, eye-gouging, apocalyptical Black Metal. Sadly, Recipere Ferum just doesn’t have what it takes to keep it in any sort of rotation in my Black Metal collection (which is actually getting more & more bands from France these days).
My tepid attitude towards this release actually came as a real surprise to me, considering I picked an Animus Herilis song as ‘best’ in a recent MetalReview.com poll of three songs from three different artists. And it is exactly this that I find most interesting about their latest release. Whenever one of the songs from Recipere Ferum plays randomly on my mp3 player, I enjoy it…I just find it hard to sit through the entire album. There are too many similarities in riffing, drumming, and vocals from song to song, so my attention eventually drifts to whatever’s in my immediate vicinity (usually a comic book…yes, I’m one of those people).
As far as the sound on this release is concerned, the drums take second chair to the blasting guitar in the mix, but both are generally riffing and pounding faster than a struggling train. The vocals hang distant in the mix as well, and don’t stray from the rather formulaic rasp from song one to song eight. To be fair, Recipere Ferum does get a teensy-weensy bit more varied as it gets deeper into the album, but it’s too little, too late, as far as I’m concerned.
It’s also worth my pointing out, Animus Herilis has actually been ‘around’ since 1993, but prior to this release they only had two demos and two EP’s to speak of. My hope is that they don’t wait another 12 years before releasing new material. Based on the fact that I actually enjoyed small doses of this album, I think it’s definitely possible they’ll release something quite good and make me gobble crow faster than Michael Moore eats cheetos. Unfortunately, Recipere Ferum just doesn’t quite cut it.
