Revenant Marquis – Youth Ribbons
If you look back on some of my other reviews you’ll see that I’m rather a big fan of the ‘lo-fi’ style of recording when it comes to music and especially when it comes to black metal. The gritty, foggy, and harsh noisy sound of the production style can do a lot to add a layer of atmosphere and horror if you’re trying to go for that, but its a fine line to walk on. Many people attempt to have such crushing style of production but, and many have failed, leaving behind a muddy mess they call an album.
Wales based band Revenant Marquis attempts to walk that line with their fourth full length release Youth Ribbons, and they did a good job in my opinion. The style of production is there, creating a foggy atmosphere that fits well with their aesthetic they’re trying to pull with this, sort of Victorian era horror. Its a one man act, the sole member only going by S is well versed in his instruments, creating lightning fast drums, and interesting riffs. Although, some of the riffs can be rather long, with little variation at times which can become tiresome and sometimes annoying, like on the fourth track Grave Lit Transmogrification, there’s this screeching guitar making a rather demented sounding riff that sort of carries on through out the song, only changing towards the faster and heavier bits toward the middle. But that doesn’t mean its all bad, for example with the eighth track Taskermilward, the riff on there creates this fierce image of some over bearing authority and really adds to the darkness of the atmosphere.
Did I mention atmosphere? Cause this album is full of it, the supporting guitars in the background create a great wall of sound, though sadly with the mixing the double bass on the drums over power almost everything, and the deepness of the snare just muddles in with the bass and it just becomes sort of a mess at times. But, on the faster and heavier bits of the album, it does compliment it, creating a true storm of noise that can be rather hypnotic.
All in all, this album is alright, but it didn’t really captivate me like it should of. It has its potential, but it kind of goes overboard with all the atmosphere its trying to build, not focusing enough on whether the music sounds good in the first place instead of checking off a list of things needed in order to sound like ‘raw kvlt black metal’. Maybe its just me who can’t seem to grasp the concept of the album, bec
ause plenty of others seem to do so. I leave it up to you to decide if you enjoyed it or not.