Μνήμα (Mnima) / Spider God - Split
Digging your own grave XI: With friends like these...
When I began this series, I was conflicted as to what I’d do with the splits Μνήμα has been on. On one hand, covering them would go against the original vision I had of chronicling their evolutionary journey, as their work would be standing opposite another band’s, whose material I wasn’t quite intending to cover, thus diluting the series’ original goal. On the other hand though, it would mean I’d leave roughly a fifth of their discography out, and no matter which way you cut it, that’s a sizable chunk. And given the fact that 2021 saw the release of three splits, it’s safe to say that they defined that year.
In case it wasn’t obvious enough, I ended up making the call to cover the splits, thinking that they’d make for an interesting look into where Μνήμα was artistically in the throes of the pandemic, in addition to seeing what they considered to be good pairings for their brand of black metal. Our first co-conspirator is found in Spider God, a British melodic black metal band that I must admit I am wholly unfamiliar with, and was quite curious to check out in the context of this release.
Spider God’s approach to the genre is one that I find rather atypical, insofar as that the melodicism isn’t moody, the riffing instead sounding outright jolly, much to my surprise. The tremolo sequences here are triumphant, and had they been cleaned up a little sonically, the soaring riffs on “Pygmalion (First Phase)” wouldn’t feel out of place in a Deafheaven record. That’s not to say the songs are contented with meandering and self-indulgent post-rock buildups, as the momentum is generally kept at a high pace, despite the length of the tracks. “Barnum (Clonic Phase)” in particular breaks out of the tremolo stream established by the opener, gracing us with a bevy of riffs built around strumming, as well as an irresistibly bouncy palm-muted gallop, which has a twisted melodic lick tied into it.
Referring to black metal as “fun” tends to bring to mind blackened speed metal bands, but I’d be hard pressed not to consider Spider God one of the most fun bands I’ve listened to in recent times. The excitement is palpable, and it really cuts through the murky production, arguably the main tether between them and Μνήμα. It provides the otherwise happy riffing with plenty of attack, making it feel tongue-in-cheek in a way, seeing as it makes rather inviting music appear more hostile at a glance.
Unfortunately, they do kneecap the transitional momentum from one side to the other with the prolonged and inconsequential “Augustine (Final Phase)”, a moody dungeon synth ditty that doesn’t contribute much to the overarching feel of the split. It’s unfortunate when the already limited space is clogged up by stuff such as this, but it is what it is. Seemingly every black metal band these days has a penchant for cramming dungeon synth tracks in their work, so perhaps it’s on me for not expecting it.
Reaching Μνήμα’s side of the split, I must admit that I found myself rather disappointed with it. A lot of the ideas showcased here feel more akin to a “This sounds like Μνήμα” checklist, rather than fully formed compositions. Discounting the mammoth-sized (by comparison) “Sanatorium”, the other 3 songs are vignettes of things I’ve heard the band play around with before. They are neat, I can confidently say that much, but I find it difficult to include them on a theoretical highlight reel, which is especially frustrating when just about every release of theirs that I’ve tackled thus far has had at least one track I’d consider setlist-worthy.
As it stands, the aforementioned “Sanatorium” is the only one that approximates that status, since it’s fully formed and plays around with a ringing crawl that casts a rather hypnotic veil over the proceedings. Things remain textured, as always, and the band doesn’t forget to kick things up a notch later down the line by building up to a very noisy crescendo that eventually collapses back into the aforementioned crawl. It’s evident they still maintain a great grasp over dynamics and how to compose a song, but unfortunately this isn’t capitalised much across the rest of their side of the split.
As for the vignettes, “Exile” does feature those groaned vocals that have started making themselves more prevalent from Νεκρώσιμος Ακολουθία onwards, and “...Still No Life” is a noise-cum-ambient piece akin to “Distant Voices” off Tombs of Necromantic Lunacy. The latter does have a more prevalent sense of musicality that makes it feel a little less cold and distant than its predecessor, which is much appreciated, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t like going “X reminds me of Y” in my reviews, and this is the main sentiment that these songs inspired in me. It’s frustrating to have that be the main thought going through my head as I’m listening to an artist who has up to this point continuously surprised me with their ceaseless drive for experimentation and aversion to staying in a stylistic box.
I guess there’s always a first for everything, and this has got to be the first time I’ve actually been disappointed with something Μνήμα got their hands on. Whereas some of my more reserved reviews on some of their work were still tinged with an appreciation for what they were going for, this is the first time I find myself going “this is just okay”, and that’s a shame. Perhaps it was naïve on my part to expect the experimental streak to continue on a release that’s shared between two bands, but given that I’ve been spoiled by what I’ve seen from them so far, I find it pin all the blame on myself and the expectations they’d built up to this point.
At least I got Spider God to look into out of all this, so there’s that silver lining to be glad about.
Spider God highlight: Barnum (Clonic Phase)
In case it wasn’t obvious enough, I ended up making the call to cover the splits, thinking that they’d make for an interesting look into where Μνήμα was artistically in the throes of the pandemic, in addition to seeing what they considered to be good pairings for their brand of black metal. Our first co-conspirator is found in Spider God, a British melodic black metal band that I must admit I am wholly unfamiliar with, and was quite curious to check out in the context of this release.
Spider God’s approach to the genre is one that I find rather atypical, insofar as that the melodicism isn’t moody, the riffing instead sounding outright jolly, much to my surprise. The tremolo sequences here are triumphant, and had they been cleaned up a little sonically, the soaring riffs on “Pygmalion (First Phase)” wouldn’t feel out of place in a Deafheaven record. That’s not to say the songs are contented with meandering and self-indulgent post-rock buildups, as the momentum is generally kept at a high pace, despite the length of the tracks. “Barnum (Clonic Phase)” in particular breaks out of the tremolo stream established by the opener, gracing us with a bevy of riffs built around strumming, as well as an irresistibly bouncy palm-muted gallop, which has a twisted melodic lick tied into it.
Referring to black metal as “fun” tends to bring to mind blackened speed metal bands, but I’d be hard pressed not to consider Spider God one of the most fun bands I’ve listened to in recent times. The excitement is palpable, and it really cuts through the murky production, arguably the main tether between them and Μνήμα. It provides the otherwise happy riffing with plenty of attack, making it feel tongue-in-cheek in a way, seeing as it makes rather inviting music appear more hostile at a glance.
Unfortunately, they do kneecap the transitional momentum from one side to the other with the prolonged and inconsequential “Augustine (Final Phase)”, a moody dungeon synth ditty that doesn’t contribute much to the overarching feel of the split. It’s unfortunate when the already limited space is clogged up by stuff such as this, but it is what it is. Seemingly every black metal band these days has a penchant for cramming dungeon synth tracks in their work, so perhaps it’s on me for not expecting it.
Reaching Μνήμα’s side of the split, I must admit that I found myself rather disappointed with it. A lot of the ideas showcased here feel more akin to a “This sounds like Μνήμα” checklist, rather than fully formed compositions. Discounting the mammoth-sized (by comparison) “Sanatorium”, the other 3 songs are vignettes of things I’ve heard the band play around with before. They are neat, I can confidently say that much, but I find it difficult to include them on a theoretical highlight reel, which is especially frustrating when just about every release of theirs that I’ve tackled thus far has had at least one track I’d consider setlist-worthy.
As it stands, the aforementioned “Sanatorium” is the only one that approximates that status, since it’s fully formed and plays around with a ringing crawl that casts a rather hypnotic veil over the proceedings. Things remain textured, as always, and the band doesn’t forget to kick things up a notch later down the line by building up to a very noisy crescendo that eventually collapses back into the aforementioned crawl. It’s evident they still maintain a great grasp over dynamics and how to compose a song, but unfortunately this isn’t capitalised much across the rest of their side of the split.
As for the vignettes, “Exile” does feature those groaned vocals that have started making themselves more prevalent from Νεκρώσιμος Ακολουθία onwards, and “...Still No Life” is a noise-cum-ambient piece akin to “Distant Voices” off Tombs of Necromantic Lunacy. The latter does have a more prevalent sense of musicality that makes it feel a little less cold and distant than its predecessor, which is much appreciated, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t like going “X reminds me of Y” in my reviews, and this is the main sentiment that these songs inspired in me. It’s frustrating to have that be the main thought going through my head as I’m listening to an artist who has up to this point continuously surprised me with their ceaseless drive for experimentation and aversion to staying in a stylistic box.
I guess there’s always a first for everything, and this has got to be the first time I’ve actually been disappointed with something Μνήμα got their hands on. Whereas some of my more reserved reviews on some of their work were still tinged with an appreciation for what they were going for, this is the first time I find myself going “this is just okay”, and that’s a shame. Perhaps it was naïve on my part to expect the experimental streak to continue on a release that’s shared between two bands, but given that I’ve been spoiled by what I’ve seen from them so far, I find it pin all the blame on myself and the expectations they’d built up to this point.
At least I got Spider God to look into out of all this, so there’s that silver lining to be glad about.
Spider God highlight: Barnum (Clonic Phase)
Μνήμα highlight: Sanatorium
Rating: 60%
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