Review Summary: Froislie isn't quite able to manage his resources properly
The sound of In Lingua Mortua’s debut album,
Bellowing Sea - Racked by Tempest, might be best described as
Emperor leaning even more on the progressive side of things, essentially, but when you get down to it, the album's still a damn good symphonic black metal release. Thanks to hardship after hardship, delay after delay for the project’s founder, Lars F. Froislie, though, the album almost never saw the light of day, as it was originally completed in as early as 2000 but did not get a release date until seven years later in 2007. Fans of the project could only sit and wait following the debut's release, then, many expecting another album from the project no earlier than 2014. Well, imagine their surprise when this year comes along with next album
Salon Des Refuses in tow, arriving four years earlier than predicted.
Salon Des Refuses (French for “exhibition of rejects”) is crafted by the hands of many guest instrumentalists that number thirteen in all – housing notable inclusions such as Jorgen Munkeby (
Shining) playing the sax and bass clarinet, Ketil Einarsen (
Jaga Jazzist) blowing on the flute, and Thebon (
Keep of Kalessin) helping on vocals - in addition to main project-head, Froislie. The album is very dense in its sound, utilizing the instruments of the various artists to create a thick collage of black metal landing somewhere in the avant-garde and symphonic varieties. These subgenres are really only an influence here, however, rather than acting as prevalent guiding pieces to direct
Salon Des Refuses’ sound. Because of this,
Salon Des Refuses is hardly ever predictable.
This works to In Lingua Mortua’s advantage
and disadvantage here on
Salon Des Refuses, though, as things such as the random bouts of saxophone playing from Munkeby might be nice and initially fresh-sounding, but there really seems to be little purpose or direction for much of the project’s guest inclusions like his on the album. This is fortunately not the case for the guest guitarists, however: Thomas Myrvold, Tony Kareid, Jacob Holm-Lupo, et al. Riffs hit in a frantic black metal fashion during the chaotic sections of the songs, but in others, they sound very distinct and melodic - an almost dance-esque distortion section even comes into play during the second track, “Existence”. Without the distinct sound of the guitars - or rather, the purposeful sound of the guitars - it’s very possible that the whole of
Salon Des Refuses could have easily become lost in itself as it plays, even taking into account a powerful, direct main vocal performance from Froislie.
The project’s founder is still the center of things on
Salon Des Refuses, despite the number of guest inclusions that are featured on the album. However, this is not to say that this album is just another
Bellowing Sea - Racked by Tempest either, as there is certainly enough here to tell the two albums apart in their sound with ease; in this case, there’s even enough to comfortably move In Lingua Mortua away from many of the
Emperor comparisons. This might be the point that divides fans of
Bellowing Sea - Racked by Tempest and those of this year’s
Salon Des Refuses, however, as what makes one album strong – and conversely, what makes one album weak – might be the key pieces that listeners will like and/or hate differently on each of In Lingua Mortua’s releases.
Bellowing Sea – Racked by Tempest is arguably the stronger of the two when you get down to it, in summary, if only because Froislie has much more to use at his disposal on
Salon Des Refuses, via many guest instrumentalists, but he unfortunately wastes their inclusions instead, in effect hurting the album's overall appeal.
