Methods for achieving liberation quickly beyond exorcism, “immoral” practices, and the development of astral clairvoyance guarantee an incomplete apocalypsis by the hand of bliss, the left-hand quantiplication of primordial forces denied. Where the indigo-shaded crux, or, vesica piscis shared between endtime mysticism and the will to power cross in darker shade so sits this third and magisterial full-length album from Norden, Germany-based funeral death/doom metal quintet Adversvm who return with new membership and their inarguable finest work to date herein. ‘Vama Marga‘ reclaims the inventive esoteric spiritus of surreal death and funereal doom metal as the band deeper hone their craft to suit an exponential gain in atmosphere and precision alike.

Adversvm formed circa 2015 by way of guitarist/vocalist S.B. as an exploration of funeral doom metal intended to be sinister and aggressive rather than passively atmospheric. After a couple of years a promotional demo circulated and lead to Iron Bonehead picking the band up for their debut full-length (‘Aion Sitra Ahra‘, 2018) which I’d reviewed favorably at the time, generally convinced that it was a funeral death/doom metal ideal which focused on menacing atmosphere though the line was mostly drawn between extreme/funeral doom and death metal. Apocalyptic occult themes and semi-dissonant, unsteady guitar work made for a truly interesting debut yet I’d somehow completely missed the boat when their second LP (‘Dysangelion‘, 2019) made a clearer leap into funeral death/doom metal much in the style of the mid-to-late 90’s featuring a less patient meter and a truly underground-level raw production value which’d felt like a damning devolution down to a primitive state. The scrambled waves and dissonant thundering of that second record would prove disorienting, far from the reverence of the first record and to the point that it’d constituted an unstable concoction in line with the origins of the niche in some respect. Though it’d make sense to seek provenance in past work most of what Adversvm are doing today exists on a different plane, exploring an upper echelon of possibilities while still the same general sub-genre headspace.

Atmosphere is (most) everything. — Around 2021 or so the band would replace their drummer and keyboardist with Jörg Uken (Temple of Dread, Sound Lodge Studios) and Don Zaros (Evoken) respectively. Without any disrespect to the prior musicians in those seats (check out Lunar Chalice and Abythic) this seems to be a much better fit and is certainly a more professional, cathedral-crushing funeral death/doom metal sound overall with now very prominent keyboards set up front a la ‘Quietus‘ with more frequent bursts into all out death metal than we’ve heard from the band thus far. This makes a lot of sense when revisiting the second album and recognizing what worked about that sound and what didn’t, addressing it here makes for a more engaging and far heavier result if you don’t mind comparing the present with the past. I’ve prattled on about this for effect here since the more active tempo, precise and mountainous drum sound, and liberally applied use of keyboards slot ‘Vama Marga‘ in a very rare place which true fiends for funeral death/doom metal will likewise thrive.

From the ethereal to the empyrean the core dynamic explored throughout ‘Vama Marga‘ is first scene-setting shortform pieces which tend to manifest as interludes performed by the guitarist and keyboardist as they foreshadow the mood of longer stretches of elaborately stated funeral doom metal songs which are broken up by various death metal interruptus and outburst. The effect is easily compared to earlier Evoken at face value, especially as we hit upon the more dynamic and twisted mid-length death/doom metal songs such as “Sinistrum” (see also: “Vindex”) but many of these pieces engage with chaotic and surreal directions in alternating step. Up front “Emanation” is the step into the marbled cemetery, an enormous Romanesque reverberation throughout the grounds grant the song a sense of awe as the keyboards lift its chugging and jangling chassis from the muddiness of the past into austere declarative exposition. For an opening scene I’d found this particularly immersive, a yank into the kudzu ridden maze of the album. As they chop into the aforementioned death metal forward focus of “Sinistrum” it begins to sound like the rhythm guitar amp is about to shake apart, collapse under the chunking attack of certain hammered-at riffs. They’ve not nailed every piece here in terms of seamless linkages made but for me hitting that ~1:30 minute mark and feeling the tank roll through the neighborhood was not only unexpected but paired well with the opener as a perfect re-introduction to the band.

From there we begin to see a general pattern form as each piece or set of songs completes a thought and either begins developing anew within the interludes that space them or merely acts as a spacer, a segue to the next movement. With this in mind there are technically five major ~6-8 minute songs which act as the bulk of the action and five pieces which serve as intro, interlude, or closure (the final piece, “Mölingssken” having been created by Mortuus of Funeral Mist). This makes good sense as the complete incorporation of Zaros‘ ideas only helps this album flesh out into its own space and timbre. “V.O.A.D.” is arguably as far-out as they get with the keyboardist’s unique ear for synth tones and symphonic buttressing, though every piece finds somewhere interesting to take it. The turn taken around ~4:21 minutes into the song caught my ear like rogue shrapnel from the first listen, not to mention the use of piano on this piece, lending a fine example of idiosyncratic, intense moments one couldn’t likely find anywhere else. The appeal of this maximally applied presence should be obvious to the longtime funeral doom metal fan, folks who recall the original ex-death/doom avant-garde which is reflected in the over the top feeling of the song. I would echo this sentiment as apparent throughout the full listen, a boldness which is lost to a lot of the neatly balanced, clean and harmless extreme doom which comes out today. They’ve not taken it as far into the cinematic as Abyssic just yet but there are a few pieces which have an equally huge feeling to their movement.

These songs embrace a broad yet generally known realm which admittedly remains rare enough the world over even twenty years beyond funeral death/doom metal finding some appeal outside of the darkest corners of the underground. Thanks to an outrageously colorful palette used and their knack for making something dark and aggressive with it the whole of Adversvm‘s third album manages to sit outside of time, manifesting the sincere bite of the outlier far beyond expectations set by prior recordings. Not only is the sound design bigger, the arrangements better performed, and the songcraft still raked with grittiness by an impressive occult infused vision we also get symbolic cover art per Vhan Artworks which acts as an intense finishing touch upon the experience. After countless listens and some deeper consideration for what constitutes filler and what works as necessary separation of events I’d ultimately find ‘Vama Marga‘ had ultimately stuck in mind, called back to me for deeper listening for hours at a time, and thrilled the senses with its heavy use of keyboards in order to create their most expansive sense of space on record to date. The full listen certainly belongs in mention among the best albums of this month. A high recommendation.

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