Averse Sefira - Advent Parallax
April 16 2008 at 02:05:48 AM  As far as Black Metal goes, Averse Sefira is a band whose potential unfolds in defiance of all recognized order in the universe. While many bands arrive on the scene strong only to reach their twilight within a very short period of time, the Texas-based trio has consistently re-armed themselves for the long war. Their music progressing within distinct parameters - always a little louder, more precise, refined and determined at every step without venturing too far from orbit, and so it feels natural, rather than opportunistic. Calculated without being forced; remarkable in process and result. Beginning with their ambitious Homecoming’s March into their sophomore release Battle’s Clarion, Averse Sefira molded numeric patterns into vortical dissonance, the music steeped in visual arcana and epic preamble – piercing, shrill and on the very verge. On Tetragrammatical Astygmata the group reinforced its concepts with maximum aggression, the hybrid surge of Black, Death and Speed Metal now armored by producer Tore Stjerna; the weapons amplified, reinforced like the alchemist’s sword; change now offered as a re-becoming, awakening, deadly and with greater focus. On Advent Parallax, the group reaches a synthesis of ideas with velocity tempered. The album sustained through the confidence of actions - hands willed in concentration to exact definitions of art, man and existence through the picture of divine machinery, governed by impressions of light, illumination and the unnamed sense of things. A sphere hovering between infinity and creation with souls tied upon axles grinding, the sounds propelled in range of a masterpiece. And yet as long as I’ve sat down with it over the past month, I’m still not sure that it’s completely sunk in. I would be lying if I said part of the band’s lasting allure had nothing to do with the image they present as tied to, yet outside the music itself. There’s something inspiring in the seriousness espoused through their appearance, the way the band speaks to the press and carries themselves in public. That a band would refuse to even be photographed without their "corpse-paint" may seem pretentious at a time when many believe to have grasped the music’s purpose, but serves more to combat the adverse cynicism in today's environment. The band’s steadfast, almost militant adherence to an unwritten code is all the more refreshing in context. Developing that persona further within the album’s tangled strains, Advent Parallax serves as a lesson in the theatrical without clowning up the delivery. Like cohorts Watain and Antaeus, language becomes the spear-tip of Averse Sefira’s onslaught, as vocalist Sanguine Mapsama doesn’t scream so much as stab within the fiery ring. Lyrics are voiced sharp and clear, tattooed in increments upon static pages, wrought with decision in sigils, shadows and collapsing stars. The ire directed mid-range and later cast down in unshaped fury for the dirge-like “Refractions of an Unexplored Singularity” with a guest appearance from Immolation’s Ross Dolan. Grand and oratory, with spaces used to accent the force and flow of the music in and out of debris-clearing interludes as on “Cognition of Rebirth” and “Serpent Recoil”, much of the album feels conveyed as a series of acts - performed not as if inside a studio but still on the stage, which is a testament to the band and Sterna’s conception, not a mark against it. And like their journey, the chaos of Advent Parallax follows time and order outside linear convention, the album building toward a premonitory beginning and end of the cycle as the deranged, Voivodian epic, “Vomitorium Angels” concludes with Sanguine’s voice echoing long after the music has ceased. For when the stars have gone, only the void remains. And so we await the next rebirth. Highly Recommended. [Todd DePalma] Comments (0)
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