ALBUM REVIEW: Darkness Invisible – Mors Principium Est

Nine albums into their career, MORS PRINCIPIUM EST have evolved into one of the most formidable melodeath bands on the planet. The Finnish five-piece have been writing razor-sharp death metal for a quarter of a century now and never really got their flowers, and we think we’ve figured out why; they’re too bloody clever.

This dawned on us about halfway through Venator, the second track on Darkness Invisible. We’d already been pummelled by the pristine guitar melodies of the opening Of Death, so when we were struck by the best guitar passage that METALLICA never wrote, it all became clear. MORS PRINCIPIUM EST don’t write accessible songs with catchy choruses or clean vocals, they deal exclusively in grandiose, almost cinematic music. These first two tracks are intricate and deeply involving and feel akin to what the great composers would have written if they’d access to distortion pedals.

The point was rammed home even further on Monuments. This third track is rich in emotion and has some spinechilling fret work in it, while the orchestral elements and densely layered keyboards make it feel huge. When Ville Viljanen screams, you can hear centuries of pain in his tortured cries, and it could only be more atmospheric if it came bundled with its own wintery Scandinavian pine forest.

Then the choral vocals turned up and it all became obvious; MORS PRINCIPIUM EST aren’t a household name because they’re not trying to be. Their brand of melodic death metal isn’t designed to be a quick fix; Darkness Invisible is meant for repeat plays on the best quality sound system. You’re not going to appreciate all the subtleties on the first listen, you’ll be too caught up in the bombastic splendour. There’s plenty to enjoy if you don’t know the first thing about music theory, but if you’re in need of a PhD subject and don’t fancy tackling MESHUGGAH, look no further.

This intricacy does work against them though. Darkness Invisible is fantastic, but it’s also dense. Tracks like the magnificent Beyond The Horizon are stuffed full of so many ideas that they’re in danger of bursting like Mr. Creosote, and only The Rivers Of Avernus sounds remotely like a single. This album requires more patience than the average SOILWORK effort and it can feel suffocating.

Stick with it though, because Darkness Invisible is really bloody good. MORS PRINCIPIUM EST won’t be for everyone, but the links between classical music and metal are painfully obvious here. If you want intelligent metal that’s not only rich in melody but ignites constant head banging, check out MORS PRINCIPIUM EST if you haven’t already. Imagine a heartbroken SYLOSIS playing outside a castle beneath the light of a crescent moon and you won’t be far off.

Rating: 8/10

Darkness Invisible is set for release on September 26th via PERCEPTION. 

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