I'm annoyed.

I'm annoyed because once again, a band has drawn attention to the meaning behind their lyrics in a press release, stating (and I quote): "The songs themselves all deal with death (in its numerous guises), from various perspectives (such as suicide, spirits and the afterlife, possession, grief, etc). The songs can also be interpreted in many other ways, some of which have been outlined in the liner notes in the booklet". The reason this annoys me is because, once again, the lyrics they are keen to draw attention to are actually totally meaningless in the actual song, being reduced to growls and deep, rumbling roars.

Don't get me wrong; CONSECRATION's vocalist Daniel Bollans is good at what he does phonetically, and to be fair the vocals aren't even overly common during the album, which is mainly comprised of instrumental sections and guitar solos. But why even bother telling us about their meaning if the musical style renders it void?

In any case, the band's approach to what they describe as Doom/Death Metal is actually quite admirable. They know how to be heavy, something a lot of bands surprisingly screw up, and are able to demonstrate an old-school skill with their instruments without shooting off into the distance at blinding speed.

The album shows a fair amount of variety across its eight tracks, with some songs showing a lot of creativity. "The Visitant" is a good example, with the intro in particular being unusual in its decision to have a low-tempo guitar section along with pounding rums and a fast bass guitar. It's an unfamiliar sound, but not an unwelcome one. Of course, at over 12 minutes the track has plenty of time to explore itself, so it's not that surprising that it takes its time to get going. In fact, a number of songs take their time in picking up the pace here, which is partly down to the genre they're in as well as the band's creative decisions. For fans of Doom or Sludge Metal, this may be expected and welcome, but for newcomers may seem strange.

CONSECRATION have demonstrated a competence that's sure to be exciting for fans of the genre, particularly for their debut full-length release. With solid, clean production and a good length, this is highly unlikely to be a flop, although could have used more thought on the vocal side of things.