Two Guys Metal Reviews

Concatenatus - Meditation Through the Inner Vortex

Concatenatus is a new raw black metal band from Chile comprised of two members, Supher and Balrog. Here they give us their first demo, Meditation Through the Inner Vortex. The artwork on the cover paired with the vocal style ties the album together with the title well. A strong sense of agony and sorrow are present here throughout the album. There is only fifteen minutes of pure disgrace but it’s enough for Concatenatus to show you where their train of despair is headed. Chained to an unending vortex of negativity. That is the feeling I get when I hear the vocals and gaze into the cover art.

We start off with a simple yet effective intro track. Sounds as if some chained being has been tortured for centuries yet continues to bellow into nothingness with his desperate wails. Dragging its chains inch by inch towards the infinite darkness. I’m not sure when it’s Sulpher and when it’s Balrog doing vocals, so I’ll refer to them as “their”. Their vocals are like hypnotic drone meditation chants that vibrate through my body and with each tug of its chains my bones gently rattle with them. “Unreachable Dawn”, is a fitting title which has vocals that remind me strongly of Depressive Suicidal Black Metal. This track has traditional black metal guitar tone and song structure. The vocals are powerful and full of agony. I like how their voice cracks at times. It’s very natural for someone’s voice to crack as they scream in the moment of pure gut wrenching fear. The clean vocals on, “Echoing Cacophony” show us how truly well rounded metal vocalists they are. All his vocal styles on this demo are wonderful and broad. Even the low gravel filled grumbles are magnificent. I love how some of the vocal pitches they use sound worried or extremely uptight and distressed. The end of this track has some great melodic tremolo picking that I wasn’t expecting to hear from Concatenatus. This is refreshing because some of the best raw black metal bands also have some melody here and there.

Overall the vocals are the high point and stand out the most. The overall production of this record reminds me of Darkthrone – Panzerfaust at times. I wish the guitars had been pushed up front in the mix more so we could hear the awesome guitar riffs better. That being said… I can’t wait to hear what comes next from Concatenatus. These two songs were not enough to hold me over for more than a few minutes. I want some more Raw Hypnotic South American Black Metal Sorrow. Metal chains sold separately.

Limited to 200 copies on CD

Bandcamp: https://concatenatus.bandcamp.com/releases

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/concatenatus

Record Label: Independent