Motus Tenebrae
Deathrising

Italian band Motus Tenebrae is back with a new album, the fifth in their fifteen year long career – a career that saw their first release being an EP that was released in 2003. Deathrising is the name of the new album; it has a cool and almost amusing cover art. It appears that it is a female version of the grim reaper that is appearing to grab the listener into a doomy state.

Gothic-/Doom metal is how this album can be described in terms of style, kind of typical of the genre if I am to be honest. They do not offer much in terms of novelty, if you know how the mentioned similar bands sound you will also have a fairly easy time guesstimating how these guys sound. The production is very good and the album is varied enough to remain relatively interesting for the duration of the album, a duration that is 53 minutes. I say interesting for lack of a better word, it is not particularly interesting stylistically.

Good album that probably will appeal to the fans of this genre, this bands, and the similar bands. I like the album too, although it is not that interesting from a creative viewpoint and as a critic it is important to look at all aspects of an album. Still, fans of the genre are recommended to have a look at this album, most fans will not bother that it is one more album that sounds very similar to most other albums in this genre. With that I mean that the singer, the songs and just about everything on this album could almost just as well had been from something by the three bands I listed as similar – it is strange how so many bands seems satisfied with copying what others have already done, I thought music was a creative business. But let me not babble on about that, this is a solid effort despite the small niggles I have mentioned, and I like it.

All the songs are solid, none of them stand out in either positive or negative way – I think that the sum of the parts is better than the individual parts themselves. And with that I don’t think more is really needed to be written, other than: if you are a fan of the genre you will probably find this an album well worth listening to, if you are a critic you will find some flaws but it will still be pretty good.

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