ALBUM REVIEW: Naiv – Thy Catafalque

THY CATAFALQUE, the Hungarian self-described avante-garde black metal outfit, has been a solo endeavour for almost a decade now. Founder Tamás Kátai has worked with an ever-growing list of instrumental collaborators picked with care to give life to his evolving sound. Naiv, the band’s ninth album, is inspired by the Naïve Art movement with the album artwork a telling combination of nature and human space travel.

THY CATAFALQUE‘s eight previous studio releases have each embodied their own particular genre-defying style. It will be of little surprise to fans, then, that Naiv follows this trend. The diversity of sound, influence, genre is heard not only across the album, but across individual tracks, creating a work of almost furious ambition. The combination of Hungarian folk with pop, ambient, blues and of course metal is a riotous display of musical inspiration combined with excellent technical ability from a cast of musicians.

Songs like the energetic Tsitsushka provide an excellent example of Naiv – a track underpinned by metal rhythms while embracing bluesy melodies, jazzy sax, minimalist riffing and the synthesised implication of travel through space. On other tracks, there is a fervent feeling of musical spirituality, or at least reference to legendary story-telling, with lush instrumentation a theme throughout. Meanwhile closer Szélvész is so positively anthemic it would not be out of place on any individual or venue metal playlist across the globe.

The exact vision of Kátai may not always be immediately obvious to listeners, but the tight execution of ideas that might otherwise seem at first unconnected will be intriguing to fans old and new. The element of surprise in this album comes from the realisation that over two decades, THY CATAFALQUE have achieved what few bands or artists have over a similar length of career- a restlessness and innovation that is definitively audible on each release.

Fans of challenging music will enjoy Naiv and its spiralling just sort of excess. At the same time this is probably THY CATAFALQUE‘s most accessible album, with no tracks over the 10-minute mark. A full list of genres infiltrating the 47-minute release would sell it as overdone. The result, however, is a seamless, engaging piece of musical craft.

Rating: 9/10

Naiv is out now via Season of Mist.

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