The very first album I bought by Rush, back in the mists of time, was ‘Archives’. It seemed like tremendous value to me as it included the first three albums, ‘Rush’, ‘Fly By Night’, and ‘Caress of Steel’. More than 40 years on, and here is the same concept, with the three 2019 albums by one-man band Misertus now available together in a 24-track 2 hour long set, which has been released both digitally and physically as a 3-CD digipak. What we have here is Post Black Metal, which in many ways means it has been produced so that pretty much everything is at the same level, including the vocals, so it is a solid mass of sound coming out of the speakers with the vocals becoming another instrument. It also means that light and shade are often lost, and it is only when there is a dramatic shift in the music that dynamics and contrast can be heard.

For me that is a real shame as there are some interesting elements in this, particularly in the gently picked guitar which can often just be heard over the chaos beneath. If the production were different then we could well be talking about Blackened Death, such is the intensity which Tomas is attempting to provide, but there are too many times when it all gets lost, and the listener becomes distracted. After a while I kept checking the player to see how many more tracks there were to go, which is never a good sign, and I cannot help but wonder what this would have sounded like if there were some outside influences in the studio such as a producer and other musicians. While I listen to a lot of Black Metal, I cannot see me often returning to this album, but will keep an eye to see what happens in the future as there is something happening which could well be nurtured.

Rating: 6/10

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/misertusbm
https://onism.productions/