ALBUM REVIEW: Further In Evil – Marthe
MARTHE may have only been active since August 2017, but this band, and the woman behind it, Marziona Silvani, have already managed to make significant waves within Italy’s doom metal scene, due in no small part to their blending of classic doom with a palpable occult rock undercurrent. The band’s first EP, 2019’s Sisters Of Darkness, featured some incredibly powerful tracks, setting down their noxious embryonic template and being quite impressive even if it was still a little rough around the edges. Their first album, Further In Evil, applies a broader musical approach and tighter songwriting style to the band’s core sound, resulting in a fantastic debut that features something for every kind of doom metal fan.
I Ride Alone serves as a dramatic and ambitious start to the album, gradually shifting from the hazy minimalism that it begins on towards monolithic doom metal with cavernous drums, muscular guitar work and slick leads which all contribute to an epic and expansive sound. The contrast between the music and coarse vocals is stark, but it works extremely well, injecting a harshness into the sound without distracting from the grandiose elements that are the focal point, adding a dark, ferocious edge alongside the heaviness and ethereal moments. Dead To You possesses that same blend of gargantuan, classic doom and brooding atmospherics, but sees the vocals take on a beguiling, cleaner feel at points, with the leads adopting a soaring, melodic edge that makes this punchier than the style displayed on the album’s opener without sacrificing any of the domineering, rhythmic undercurrent, with the end result being just as powerful, but showing a catchier side to the band’s sound.
Further In Evil has an incredibly dense, chunky guitar tone, and shifts the music towards sludge, with tight, punk-inflected drumming, groove-laden guitars and acerbic vocals all creating a weighty and memorable sound that perfectly brings together the band’s heavier components with that underlying groove, crafting a bombastic and fierce sound with a great, hypnotic bridge providing a haunting, melancholic exclamation point to an already brilliant piece of music. Victimized, another longer offering, ties together the fuzzy guitar sound and energy of the preceding track and pairs it with the sombre, melodic death-doom of I Ride Alone, turning this into arguably one of the album’s most imaginative and diverse efforts, with intricate drumming, eclectic hooks and searing vocals making this a lot more layered and broad in its scope than any of the previous tracks and ultimately cementing it as one of the album’s best tracks.
To Ruined Altars sees the clean vocals and opaque distortion showcased on songs like Dead To You return in full force, with these lighter parts being interwoven around the meaty, rhythmic doom metal that makes up the backbone of this track. It’s an impactful, visceral offering that is a little spartan when it comes to riffs, but more than makes up for this with its excellent vocal performance and engrossing feel, drawing the listener in and making this a lot more powerful. The album’s final track, a cover of Sin In My Heart by SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, serves as an incredibly atmospheric rendition of a classic post-punk number, stripping away almost all of the metal from the album’s sound, with only the vocals featuring alongside the gothic keyboards and ambience, departing quite drastically not only from the core sound of the record, but also the sound of the original, twisting it into a darker, more reserved take on the livelier version that came out in 1981.
Further In Evil is an impressive album, not just in terms of a debut record, but in terms of doom metal generally, and is made even more impressive considering it was written and recorded by one person. Rather than fall back upon a specific formula for this record, Silvani has crafted six tracks that each have their own distinct characteristics and influences, ranging from classic doom through to sludge, with a few hints of death and black metal peppered liberally throughout, meaning that this has a lot going on musically to keep listeners interested. Like a lot of debuts, MARTHE‘s sound hasn’t been fully fleshed out yet, although it’s certainly a lot more defined than what featured on Sisters Of Darkness, being more imaginative with its songwriting and incorporating a wider range of styles, and this sounds a lot more varied than the vast majority of debuts tend to be, laying some incredibly solid foundations for the band’s musical future.
Rating: 8/10
Further In Evil is out now via Southern Lord Recordings.
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