Bane – Esoteric Formulae

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Laymen, HM detractors and haters love to say that it lacks melody in HM songs. What it’s hard to make them understand is that HM is the musical that praises aggression the most. Melody is something to be avoided on the first place because it’s the way Metal is. HM fans ar like predators, but instead of smelling blood, they smell melody. Therefore, if a band add high doses of melody in their music, fans are going to attack, and it is a miracle if the band survives. HM is a unique experience. It has to be taught, the likes have to be trained. However, melody is so subtle put into HM music, that to trained years,  it takes sometimes a while to notice it. When it comes to Extreme Metal music, melody is really avoided, but even though, survives in certain touches as in a complex and delicate living tissue that needs it to survive.

That’s what we see in Bane with “Esoteric Formulae” where melody is carefully spread around the album throughout songs. For instance, in “Bringer Of Pandimensional Disorder” the delicate touch is given in the intro with guitar phrases that introduce slightly the punch that is to come. Bane dare to remind the use of high-velocity drumming to add more punch to their songs. “Esoteric Formulae” is an album full of the contrast of melody and dissonances, high-velocity tunes with slower ones, classical structures with simpler ones. That’s how Extreme Metal bands deal with it. No wonder for us, but a big deal for a layman. “Wretched Feast” is full of them.

Bane use their sharp guitar interventions to build up layers of melody and thunder to smash songs into a wall of sound. This and the contrast of drumming and vocal result in an exciting and vibrating vibe. Well-chosen and executed riffs as in “Reign in Chaos” do all the rest of the magic. Bane cooks “Esoteric Formulae” handling carefully the ingredients which are part of the recipe. It smells great, I must say. Traditional riffing and drumming are time to time brought up to enlighten the day as in “Acosmic Forces of the Nightside” which handle tradition and modernity very well.

“Esoteric Formulae” is an album that dares to drift from melodic guitar interventions to raspy vocals and faster than the light drumming. The outcome is an album that may surprise you as dense as it is.

Bane “Esoteric Formulae” was realised on November 30th via Black Metal Market Label.

Track Listing:

  1. Invocation of the Nameless One
  2. The Calling of the Eleven Angles
  3. Beneath the Black Earth
  4. Bringer of Pandimensional Disorder
  5. Wretched Feast
  6. Into Oblivion
  7. Burning the Remains
  8. Reign in Chaos
  9. Acosmic Forces of the Nightside
  10. Wrathful Reflections

Watch “Bringer of Pandimensional Disorder” official video here: