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Tangorodrim, "Justus Ex Fide Vivit"
For their fourth release, these black metallers from Israel have produced an album of no worth whatsoever. The music is unimaginative and some of the lyrics are downright ridiculous; two huge problems that are not redeemed by even a shred of any sort of passion. This sounds like music made by people who understand how the genre should sound but do not actually like it.
The music is technically good black metal, the drumming is relentless and the guitars are a metallic dirge, but there is something lacking. There is no (hell)fire to the performance, it is more like black metal by numbers. This is not helped by Larenuf's vocals which are devoid of any menace or power. He sounds bored, when he roars it is a limp, dead croak which is normally something to be proud of in a band like Tangorodrim but here it just highlights how run of the mill this album is.
It does not help that the lyrics are cheesy and poor even by black metal standards, at least with a powerful performance a substandard lyric can be transmutated into something more. However, there is not much that can be done with the lyrics to the album's title track: "I am standing in a naked forest/And worship the clean ones!/They smell nice, I have to take a shower." Now I don't know if they are taking the piss but even if they are this is a poor attempt at any sort of humour.
By the end of the album (granted it is short), Justus Ex Fide Vivit has proven itself to be generic and bland, not words that would normally be associated with this genre. There are some excellent bands out there that are playing around with the black metal formula to make some riveting music but Tangorodrim is not one of them. I would not mind such an old fashioned approach to this kind of music if it at least had a bit of energy to it but this is a flaccid collection of music if ever I heard one.
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