Keringők (Valses)

The wolves from Transylvania, Siculicidium come back shortly after their last EP, with another 7’’ EP called “ Keringők (Valses)” which contains two tracks of eleven minutes total duration. The band continues with the weird and dark style that we have come across in the previous its releases but now the rhythm is much slower, almost Doom, while they have paid particular attention in creating compositions which are mainly based on the dark, horror and eerie atmosphere. Their main influences still are the first bands of the genre and here we also recognize some Horror influences.

The first track, as they also say, follows the music motif of the track “New Mind” of Swans, that is the guitars play a slow, repetitive riff and the drums keep the basic pace with a minimalistic repetitive line. The music is the same with the track of Swans but played with heavier guitars and more depth, while they have maintained that cold industrial feeling that the original composition puts out, but the different thing here is that it works to create a dark, horror atmosphere instead of the frozen, annoying feeling that the track of Swans puts out. The second track is also slow, rhythmic almost Doom, with a two minutes passage after its second minute which reminds of the dark, thrashy sound of the ‘80ies (Hellhammer ). This track also has an intense atmosphere, heavy and threatening.

The guitars are heavy and played with passion, creating the atmosphere which suffocates the listener. The bass, although it can’t be heard clearly, it fills the tracks very well. I can’t say much about the drums as their role is different than that we know, that is that the lines of both tracks are heavy and repetitive, someone can say that they remind voodoo or tribal drums. The vocals are awesome. As in their previous releases they are a mixture of Master’s Hammer, Root and Attila while in this album they are even more expressive and flexible, they play a very important role into the compositions’ atmosphere. The lyrics are written in Hungarian and the first track is a poem of a Hungarian poet (Weöres Sándor) while the second describes the last waltz before the destruction of the world.

Siculicidium have created two quite good tracks, with beautiful, old school sound, commanding atmosphere and quite personal style. This release is rather addressed to the fans of the band as it is limited to one hundred copies only. Those of you who are fans of the band buy it, whereas those of you who want to get to know the band wait for their next album.