Rakoth
Tiny Deaths
3.9
For once, I agree with the promo blurb that accompanies an album: "Guaranteed to divide fans and critics alike, this album proves one thing - Rakoth follow their own path". I was disappointed by last year’s Planeshift, as it was too confused between Tolkien-based fantasy metal and avant-garde artistic measures that just didn't mix at all. With Tiny Deaths, these Russians appear to have finally chosen their desired visage and dropped the Tolkien imagery, although still using excessive keyboards and flutes and such. They have now dove headlong into progressive experimental pastures that more resemble Asgaroth, Ephel Duath, Solefald, and other borderline metal acts that express themselves far more adventurously. Now, normally I wouldn't have a problem with this - if it was done well. The fact remains that despite Rakoth's audacious take on music, it still doesn't convince me that they are nothing more than a novelty act with little or no merit for existence. This harsh conclusion comes from multiple listens to Tiny Deaths, and not recalling a single moment I enjoyed or sought to listen to again. The programmed drums give the sound a robotic, lifeless edge despite the abundance of flutes and a bounty of stringed instruments, and the two just don't sound right next to each other. When their blackened metal does rarely surface amid the overflow of artistic musings and spoken word diatribes, it's flat, un-energetic, and boring. The first four "songs" ("Planescape/The Crypt", "Fevered", and "Dawn") just drift with pointless abandon, with no definable structure or prose. Add to that the presence of thickly accented spoken word lyrics for a majority of the material, and it makes for a miserable listening experience. I'm all for avant-garde, experimental work, but when it just seems to be meandering acoustics and FX backed by flutes and Yakov Smirnoff, I'm not impressed. Then, when the techno interlude "Trust This", kicks in, I wonder if I'll even finish listening to the album. A brief flash of Rakoth's hidden talent surfaces on "Edge", but only because the band's sole high point, the flute, takes on a lead role. In fact, the flute work on Tiny Deaths is the only thing I can really take as a positive, even though it’s drowned out by the other pointless instrumentation and vocalizations. What kills me is that Rakoth appear to be extremely talented, and their boundary-ignoring antics show a will to forge their own path that few bands can pull off, but what's the point when the end product is as stale as this? I could possibly understand the merit of the piano/spoken word "song" "Horizon", but it does little more than show "Hey, we’re Russian and artistic!" rather than "Hey we’re Russian and talented song writers". Empyrium pull off the acoustic/native tongue sound so much better and without coming across as pointless. I might be missing the point of Tiny Deaths, and that may well be Rakoth's intent - to confuse and confound. If that's the case, they have succeeded admirably. I get the impression that Rakoth are out to force the "We’re eclectic and different" issue at the cost of cohesive song-writing and solid material. Brief spurts of between song interludes like "Fevered", "Vicious Life", and "June 3" serve no purpose whatsoever other than to fuel Rakoth's need to be divergent. But, in an annoying turn of events, they kick out the doomy notes of "Just Another Lament" and the surprisingly competent title track to end the album. It's kind of like Rakoth were fucking around for the album’s first nine songs, and for the last two jumped out and shouted "SURPRISE!!!! We can write good songs!!” Alas, it's too little too late as Tiny Deaths misses the mark entirely. Then again, I'm not even sure what they were aiming at.
