Conjurer - Páthos Review

The exact time I got this promo I thought that I would like this band. It’s funny to say that because it’s something very hard to explain. I can’t say why but it’s true that at the moment I put my eyes on the email I saw this album would be very appreciated. Maybe it was the tittle “Páthos” that called my attention. Páthos means a quality that evokes pity or sadness. Hum, now I got the mood of the album. True that Conjurer reflected flawlessly in the music of the album its meaning. However, “Páthos” isn’t an album to evoke pity. Maybe sadness. There’s lots of it in it. Besides sadness I sense lots of despair and desperation passed through a very complex songwriting that from I’m standing goes beyond the concept of Black Metal. Maybe the lable post-Black Metal should be adequate but I’m not really satisfied with it. Nor Atmospheric Black Metal. “Páthos” has both with a musicianship that – so sorry for what I’ll say – goes beyond Black Metal. I remember that in one of my initial reviews of a Black Metal band I said that when Black Metal finds the Blues or Jazz the mix would be explosive. That’s exactly what my child of the night will find here.

The music in the album reflects a band that pays very little or no attention to the boundaries of their music. All the time the songs reflects this attitude towards music. As I said, “Páthos” goes beyond the universe of Black Metal bands influences mixing in their musical hodgepodge elements of Jazz and Blues and even some pop. It’s not an easy album to whom doesn’t know or understand this kind of influence. Album opener “It Dwells” besides being very long starts with an acoustic guitar followed by the typical yell of Modern Metal bands. Because of it my child of the night may have the impression Conjurer that belong to one of the cores. Nonsense. Soon the track has a change of heart and its real soul appear. The guitars get string and fast and the song goes into lots of changes using acoustic and distortions and other elements. It’s the track that could be labeled as Atmospheric Black Metal, but it isn’t. The dissonances the guitars use tell otherwise. This dissonances sometimes sound as to be inharmoniousness due to the effect they make. Vocals follow this. It would be easier to label Conjurer as Progressive Black Metal and maybe this would be right. The elements they mix afford them to be labeled so. Everything changes when comes “All You Will Remember” a track that besides the slow cadence features clean vocals. It’s dense and mysterious. If my child of the night pays real good attention the drums uses Jazz techniques in the slower parts. “All You Will Remember” does sound out the box even to Conjurer’s traits.

“Páthos” is an album that made me remember some weird albums that I had listened. Its dense and complex mood takes my dear child of the by the mind and the guts.

Conjurer “Páthos” will be released on July 01st via Nuclear Blast Records.

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