Doctor Livingstone
Contemptus Saeculi

David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley on 10 November 1871 gave rise to the popular quotation "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" A hero of his time and a pioneer in many regards, impressive person from who this French band borrowed their name. A name that seem to require a bit of adventurous music, but of course black metal isn’t really known for that and the cover art does not really look like it either. And the title, contemptuous towards its fans and non-fans alike, so who is it for? those who like being seen in contempt perhaps?

Black metal with a bit of grindcore influences, dark, hard and heavy. Nothing we haven’t heard before, and nothing much in terms of variation either. The production is better than many in the primitive black metal genre but that only means that it sounds like halfway down the stairs rather than all the way down as most of the genre sound like. 46 minutes of playing time is a bit long and the question is still to whom the album is aimed, black metal fans are few and far between so if they want to succeed they ned to reach further.

Lame, dull and boring is my view of this album. The songs are poor, or lets just say that they are quite typical of the black metal genre. I remain unimpressed and think that it would have been time better spent reading up on the original Livingstone rather than listening to this dreary album. The real Livingstone seemed a fascinating character, this Livingstone seems a less than uninteresting to be honest. Though I guess they might appeal to fans of black metal and the band of course.

Are you a fan of black metal? if the answer to that is yes, then I think you might want to have a look at this album. If the answer is no then I’ll think you’ll do much better if you look in any other direction because this isn’t really it. It is contemptuous and dull.

HHHHHHH