Ava Inferi - Burdens
- Released: 2006
- Label: Season of Mist
- Rating:
The fact that I’m reviewing this disc is nothing short of a miracle, considering the hell I went through to obtain it. Following several unreceived e-mails, my computer crashing and deleting the CD from its database, I finally got a hold of it again to share my opinions on it with you, our readers. After all of the incredibly horrible mishaps that preceded the album’s arrival, Boss Hogg…er, Reverend Sick actually said, “Josh, your PC stinks.”
How wrong you were, my friend.
As I have since learned, my PC was simply trying to protect me from the content contained within this recording. Unfortunately, my discovery was made only after I had devoted a substantial amount of time dissecting the album when I could have been doing more productive activities, such as Snipe hunting. In fact, Burdens isn’t really that different from Snipe hunting. Much like reviewing this album, Snipe hunting is based solely on the exercise of hunting for something that simply doesn’t exist. I spent a lot of time hunting for the point behind Burdens but once I discovered that there was no point to be found, my frustration with Ava Inferi reached an all-time high…much like my frustration with Snipes…the fictional creatures, not Wesley.
Much like Carpathian Forest’s Fuck You All , Burdens is an album that could easily be described by simply uttering the title. Listening to Burdens truly was a burden in every sense of the word. I’m assuming the intent behind the creation of this release was to make an ominous, yet haunting piece of atmospheric decay. However, what resulted was a boring, contrived recording that flushed any and all of it’s original potential down the proverbial musical toilet in a time-span of 7 tracks.
Now, before I go any further, let the record show that I absolutely love several other bands that make this kind of music. I might write a death metal column (shameless plug) but I, like the rest of you, have very broad musical tastes and preferences. Depressive acts such as In Ruin, Sally Doherty, and Star of Ash make their way into my stereo on a regular basis.
I simply know the difference between quality and garbage…and this, my friends, is most definitely
some of the worst music I’ve had the misfortune of hearing.
As stated before, it’s easy to see what Ava Inferi was going for. However, it’s a bit hard to comprehend what made the band members say to themselves “This is exactly what we wanted!” The uninspired drone of every single track on this cd is only made worse by the absolutely pointless lyrical content and horribly done female operatic vocals. I’m all for some female vocals here and there, but these are quite possibly the worst I’ve ever heard. With Jonna Enckell from The Project Hate, this might have sounded a bit decent. Sadly though, the vocals are not my only complaint.
These songs, to me, seem like they’re incredibly long for the sake of being long. They never lead to anything climactic or promising, and merely serve as one big continuous exercise in depression and monotony. The concepts still confuse me. I’m not quite sure what’s going on in “A Glimpse of Sanity” but my sanity was at risk while trying to figure it out. All I could think about were the goth kids I used to know who would quote Macbeth in “creepy” speaking voices. This is like that, but much longer and supposedly artistic.
Whatever the case, this album left a very sour taste in my mouth. The songs go nowhere, the vocals are just atrocious, and the musicianship is subpar at best. If you want to call this art, be my guest. As for me, I’ll stick with the artists in this genre who actually know what they’re doing and who truly are worthy of my time and effort.
Link: ava-inferni.com
Josh | 07/05/2006