Tantalos is a German Atmospheric Black
Metal one-man band signed on Naturmacht Productions which seems to solely concentrate on the genre judging by their latest releases.
Tantalos depicts his music on self-realization and being one with oneself and nature. It strays away from the usual themes found in Black
Metal. Here you will find no praises for
Satan or complete annihilation of mankind. The music is moody and rather slow as if to help induce that state of introspectiveness and the German lyrics add to the overall “philosophical” state of mind.
I did enjoy most of the songs on this record and I found they displayed some welcome variety both in structure and songwriting. Most bands in the genre fail to catch the attention because they focus on a couple riffs in order to build momentum but most times embarrass themselves because they only built boredom.
In
Fiat Lux, you will find various breaks and other musical artifacts that will help construct some kind of scenery as if you were traveling within yourself. Besides traditional instruments, keyboards play a solid part as well as other instruments like the violin. One might fear that this would ruin the musical experience making it sound cheesy at best, but
Tantalos combines them rather agreeably and they add up rather than make everything sound stupid.
I also very much appreciated the vocals on this record. Not only they’re rather well mixed but they go from one sphere to the other. On Gen Einsamkeit, they’re raspy and creepy like some Black
Metal version of
Thergothon and on Mortalitas, they switch back to something more conventional.
My only disappointment was in the instrumental track “
Phantasma" which is in my opinion, what you’d call filler. It’s long, too long. It's erratic and it doesn't bring anything new to the record as if
Tantalos was just experimenting things he should have kept for himself. Definitely a song you will want to skip.
Let’s also note that the overall atmosphere of
Fiat Lux sounds… positive. I couldn’t quite put a name on it but after numerous plays this sounds right.
Nothing heinous, nothing utterly misanthropic just introspective music that sets you in the right mood. Definitely something new in the Black
Metal genre and while it may seem a bit out of place, I believe that such a direction may be well sought after.
Overall, a very interesting record that will transport you provided you have an open enough mind!
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