Our gaze turns to the realm of Harghita mountain-lurkers up in their hallowed eastern reaches, a duo of Transylvanian miscreances identified as Romanian black metal abstractors Siculicidium as their proposed death-axis acts to further erase the canonical notions of the sub-genre for the sake of embodying the philosophy inherent. Their singularity sits as jutting spire to the core value of the act, a clear channel to the spiritual mysteries of life and death as much as it is a defiance in principle. A mystic yet ghoulish pale graces ‘A halál tengely‘ conveying a sense of lingering existential dread, luminous life and looming death in a not at all self-conscious set of pieces set as one of two albums simultaneously released, suggested as two vital halves. We can consider each one its own side of the same coin and in this sense here we view the main fresco, the furnace mouth, and the most approachable visage of the long-standing act. Here they mark the ungracious tombstone of the materialist, relish the inevitable collapse of the society built, and drive away all sense of purpose given to the fettered adherent(s) remaining.

Siculicidium formed circa 2003 assumedly as a trio involving vocalist Béla Lugosi, (then) session guitarist/bassist Pestifer and multi-instrumental input from M.Cs. they’d produce a demo tape (‘Transylvanian Resistance‘, 2003) which to this day provides a decent outline for their ambitious, variously Dionysian-yet-spartan approach to black metal. At the time the mystique of the early second wave, as well as some darkwave or post-punkish edge, was at least somewhat identifiable in their sound though the tape was a simple first outline. From that point they’d taken their time to develop that sound into something exceptional per a debut LP (‘Utolsó v​á​gta az Univerzumban‘, 2009) wherein the signature of their work should be well enough revealed within the first two songs, owing some to pre-‘Šlágry‘ Master’s Hammer, Bathory as well as the more off-color early Norwegian black metal traits, and in the process getting quite a lot of comparisons to Inquisition for the swinging sensation of rock in their otherwise atmospheric and raw sound. Their exploration of punk, doom metal, and dark folk became key modifiers in their search for their own black metal, most of which I’d written about when taking a look per a review of their most recent mLP (‘A halál és az iránytű‘, 2019). The precedent but not the full scope of their approach had been well set by then.

When I’d given brief review of Siculicidium‘s third album (‘Az alámerülés lárvái‘, 2020). A big part of my endorsement of that LP was the not-so-usual weirdness they’d now more completely applied to black metal sounds: “Art rock progressions, post-punk beats, and early second wave black metal rawness truly make for something transcendent for its ugliness, a profoundly stomped bed of roses and poisoned animals depicting death in severe terms. All of it leads to revelation, […]” and this sets a reasonable expectations for what ‘A halál tengely‘ does in terms of the breadth of their sound. This album has what I’d consider a black metal bucket beat behind it most of the time, drumming which sits somewhere between homebrew post-punk, post-industrial rock, and bedroom black metal served by tentative, mid-paced but kicking n’ swinging abstractions of the main form. That same level of bizarre elegance dances through this experience, more seamless in its transition between modes and ideas.

We see the many masks worn by the band as the first three songs take us to three distinctly different headspaces one after another and still work, perhaps in the way a newer Sigh record might gel in its own grotesque way. The meandering guitar driven instrumental which opens the album, “Voltak”, kinda rocks out to start slow waltzing through while echoing loudspeaker narration presents distant and dictated vocals which are tentatively the lead voice. As we pass through, Siculicidium steps into the double-stepped folk-punk bap to open the first two and a half minutes of “Nagyanyó kenyér”, eventually taking a mid-song dramatic pause into a progressive rock noire break and transforms the tone of the song in the process, spreading a bit of gloom. While it may not translate all that well on paper the gist is that we’re passing through the ‘seasons of life’ here hitting a warm nostalgic note before our channel toward death begins to darken.

The real bulk and character of ‘A halál tengely‘ essentially arrives here as the next several songs, the standout being “Egy akasztás rövid története“, focus on developing unexpectedly profound moments from seemingly simple punkish places. These turns taken suit lyrics in examination of various subjects which match up with the turmoil suggested, such as the aforementioned piece and its parsing of crime and capital punishment. By the time we’d hit “Belső utazás” on the running order I’d started to compare some of this mid-album moodiness and clangor with the spongey post-music bravado of Witch Trail‘s second album but this record uses a somewhat different frame of reference at its darkest depth, opening its own doors to alt-rock, psych and folk driven cadence. I’d especially enjoyed this final stretch of the album for its increasingly atmospheric reach, peaking with the late 80’s Sonic Youth-esque drain of “Összeomlás” and its companion/closer “Haláltengely”. The spoken parts go on for quite a long time but there is a great groove there to finish the thought.

We still find the thread woven by the duo since 2009 intact, or, maintaining its persistent state of evolution herein and this includes the starkness of the drum sound or the effects on the vocals might be off-putting for some, it is important to keep the post-millennial black metal perspective in mind. Though leaning into their tuneful approach to weird punk infused black metal more than ever produces an experience unique enough, a personae expressed in detail, this is arguably the “normal” side of Siculicidium‘s coin compared to the less rock adjacent freakery of its companion album (‘Az elidegenedés melankóliája‘, 2024). The obscure charm of ‘A halál tengely‘ is hard to accurately describe for the sake of the language barrier involved (this by default sets the score at ~average), I am not privy to what might be extra-clever about a lyric or imagery in a certain context but that said the eerie, often surreal steps taken from moment to moment on this album are indicative enough of the main themes described and all pieces fit in space together with great sense. This is more than I’d say for the ‘any and everything goes’ run through of its companion album and as such this’d be the place to make a first impression if you’re intending a dive into both of their new records. Otherwise I’m not ready to judge the long-term value of the full listen, so far it has called me back for several listens though it arrives during a frenzy of releases and this’d be more fairly assessed out of that context in a few weeks time. Otherwise, a generally high recommendation.

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