ALBUM REVIEW: Deliquesce – Maestus

When AHAB released The Giant in 2012, it was a rather mixed blessing. Funeral doom had long been a genre that failed to compel any large audience – although with songs compromising of often 20-minute dirges replete with suffocating, guttural vocals, it was no mystery as to why. However, the German darlings produced an album which coaxed credibility from the same legion of fans who had fallen in love with black metal before, and traditional heavy metal since. This meant that attention was now coming from a realm it never had done before, which could seemingly only be taken as a positive; however, it also meant that some bands, who deserved the same praise, were overshadowed. One such band was Oregon’s primary purveyors of despondent and desperate blackened funeral-doom: MAESTUS.

It’s approaching 4 years since MAESTUS released their debut album, the exceptional Voir Dire, and the quality of that album has upheld interest in the group over this painful period of the silence. Their audience may be small now, but they are unquestionably dedicated. It was a remarkable opening gambit, featuring the utterly exquisite 21-minute Shrouded By Peaks, Valleys Speak – a staggering meditation on misery and hopelessness, both operatic and punishing its execution. Exploring territories many of their peers would be hesitant to and accomplishing more than most bands this young ought to. The stage is set for a follow-up, and any doom fan worth their salt will want to keep their ear to the ground now, as Deliquesce is an album deserving praise far beyond this band’s current scale.

Deliquesce‘s opening title-track slithers into earshot, humbling the listener in a flurry of hurricane riffs and canon percussion. This is also the longest song on the album and can be described as the ‘epic’ of the collection – although among fellow epics, it perhaps isn’t such a sore thumb. While the song primarily consists of a patience-demanding build, it does reward the listener with thrilling variety and a remarkable pay-off in the final moments. It’s a great statement of intent and a display of talent worthy of acclaim, an inviting entrance to a labyrinthine listen.

The album’s crowning moment comes with the marvellously-titled third song The Impotence Of Hope, which is also the shortest song of the set, sitting at a trim 11-minutes. Here, MAESTUS employ sublime piano-work, often not welcome in music this misanthropic, and it lifts the entire album, adding a dynamic scope and a level of depth that it otherwise wouldn’t possess. None of the bludgeoning weight is lost, but it now displays the grandeur and class necessary to take this music to the next level.

Closing track Knell Of Solemnity boasts some astounding lead-work which summon influences as far-reaching as BATHORY, IRON MAIDEN and PINK FLOYD; it’s a curious flavour but it allows MAESTUS to stray from the pack and stand alone in a scene which often encourages repetition and closed artistic borders. It is rare that a funeral doom band should appropriate the duelling lead guitar harmonies that would be more at home in AMON AMARTH than in MY DYING BRIDE. It is also here where the band sound at their most mighty, and it brings the album to a fitting close – bowing out at the crescendo, with a trail of dead behind them. The production on Deliquesce is equally superb, complimenting the music’s meticulous balance of subtlety and savagery. The guitars cut through the mix while the rhythm section thunders below, allowing space for only the vocals, which howl mercilessly throughout. For any fan of restless and uncompromising metal, it’s a divine recipe.

Despite its unwelcoming qualities: the indecipherable screeches, the patient builds and formless song structures, MAESTUS have composed an emotional and hypnotic work, and one worthy of immense praise. The band’s heartfelt conviction is abundant in each and every of the member’s performances, and the 4-song, 50-minute symphony that is Deliquesce is an alluring magnum opus and puts the band in good stead for their future.

Rating: 8/10

Deliquesce is due for release February 8th via code666. 

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