Band's List Death Metal Maveth Coils of the Black Earth

When in 2011, Nuclear Winter Records released Breath of an Abomination, a compilation featuring two previously released EPs from Finnish band Maveth, deathsters versed in the underground art saw something quite big coming. With their sound that was reminiscent of older legends Incantation or newer soon-to-be-cult acts like Dead Congregation, listeners were awaiting confirmation. So when Dark Descent Records announced they were to release Maveth’ debut, hopes were high that promises should be fulfilled.

The result is nonetheless disconcerting. In times where newer bands are born each and every day and about 10 to 15 new albums are released each month (which, obviously, everyone needs to own), it is unsure that Coils of the Black Earth will meet expectations. So far, every person I talked with about Maveth’ debut was rather unanimous: this album is a deception. The tracks seem to have gotten longer, directionless and suffering from inadequate production making them rather unremarkable, bland and interchangeable at will. Mediocre, disappointing, even boring would be the words coming back the most in the mouths of most people.

Most of it is unfortunately due to the “qualities” of the production. Everything seems buried under a seemingly impenetrable wall of distortion making all the instruments sound as if they were just one big randomized noise. Nothing really stands out, which, unfortunately, makes for quite an uneventful listen. And don’t get me wrong, I like stuff where production is murky, if not muddy, as I enjoy, among many others, acts like Encoffination, Vomitchapel and… well, you get the point.

I guess that if you’ve read this far, you probably wouldn’t be considering acquiring this record. Right? Well, I wouldn’t either but I thought I’d let things settle down for a while before coming back to this record. And, with repeating listens with headphones on, I saw where the band was heading and slowly, yes, very slowly, I started to see some values in it. If I didn’t so much concentrate on the drumming which tends to eclipse all the other instruments, it wouldn’t make this album less massive and imposing than it is but at least I would grasp the subtle variations that the vocals and the other instruments have to offer. To a point where I would actually start appreciating this dense and sinister atmosphere.

Still, as I said, with so many bands releasing stuff these days, it will still be hard not to overlook this album which I would myself consider half success, half failure and which will leave Maveth with no other option than to excel in their next release if they don’t want to be considered forever outsiders. This should probably serve other bands that think that no or little production is actually an easy feat to pull out and that “successful” bands which seemingly harbor minimalist sound may have thought this through in the first place.