Hosszú út az örökkévalóságba

This one is an album I was looking forward to its release for a long time. Most of you know the appreciation I show to this weird band from Romania. Just a few days back, I received their second full length album of Siculicidium, “Hosszú út az örökkévalóságba”, which means “Long way to eternity“. The digipack packaging with the simple but very beautiful and fit with the title cover, creates the first good impression. So, by beginning the listen of the album, already from the first few notes, the fans of the band will recognize the particular style of the band that we have come across also in the previous releases, namely that old – fashioned, mid – paced Black Metal influenced by the first bands of the genre.

Nevertheless, here the listener will also identify some important differences regarding the older material of the band. The most striking new element of the album is the melancholic atmosphere which is diffuses throughout the bigger part of the album and tit is mainly expressed through the melodies of the guitar giving a very different character to the style of the band. The riffs mostly are mid – paced, melodic, with that known punk structure that the band composes its tracks. In some tracks (e.g. in Lesben álló) the melodies reminds a lot of melancholic rock, something that the least I can say is that it surprised me while the title track is also surprising as it puts out agony, a panic and its sound brought to my mind “psychedelic” rock. However after the freezing of the first listen, the second one helps the listener to get into the feeling and the atmosphere that Siculicidium want to create and feel the concerns that they express through their tracks. The parts with the acoustic guitar, the very nice keyboards and the use of trumpet give an even more special character to the compositions.

The instruments are played flawlessly. The guitars have clean sound so that the melodic riffs can be clearly heard while they deliver the melancholic atmosphere with accuracy but also with feeling. The bass is clearly audible, it doesn’t have anything special in its lines but it fills the sound well. The drums are played with confidence and variety while in a lot of parts they stimulate the listener’s interest with its nice changes and the stable, full of power style of play. The voice as also in the previous albums is one of the elements that characterizes the band. It is a mixture of Root, Attila with their biggest influence to be Inquisition, it is expressive while the most important thing is that it has its own identity and character. The production is clean and it delivers a somewhat bass but warm sound. The mixture is very good as all the instruments can be distinguished but the sound remains solid. The lyrics in this album too are written in Hungarian. By the feeling and the titles of the tracks which are translated in English, I understand that they refer to more personal concerns and wonderings as life, eternity, melancholy, decay.

Siculicidium in “Hosszú út az örökkévalóságba” don’t try to follow the easy path and work again in the way that they did for their previous works. Here the band shows that it is searching for things, new music expressions but the most important is that it searches its own soul putting out original feelings and concerns, something that I can’t but appreciate it. I don’t know how their fans will react to this album but the band shows its evolution both musically and expressively. For sure this album is not a representing Black Metal sample, perhaps it is not even Black Metal, so those of you who are searching for something like that, “Hosszú út az örökkévalóságba” is not what you want. However the album offers a very beautiful, full of feelings journey and it worth to listen to it but listen to it before you buy.