ORNÆMENTAL SHINE's debut album, "Deima Panikon," is an obsessive elaboration on madness and the connection it establishes with the categories of mysticism and esotericism, the album title referencing terror towards the Divine when a subject connects with it. Featuring members of UADA and BLACK HATE, ORNÆMENTAL SHINE plays an erratic and atypical Black Metal which expresses the "Other," the non-reason/madness, while the lyrics focus on the link between the Madman and the Mystical, the I and All, conjoined to reach the goal of divine knowledge. The album contains three tracks.
"Numinous Presence" opens the album. The landscape is roughly Black Metal, but that really only touches the surface here. Steady bass guitar notes combine with dissonant guitars and a set of vocals that varies from evil, spoken words to screams. All the while, these tense tones wax and wane in the background. It picks up after the half-way mark, with elevated frightening elements and machine gun drumming. It closes on more dissonant tones. "Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans" is the beast on the album, clocking in at over 13 minutes. It begins with some vocal utterances that are just pure evil, before dissonant guitars join in. The mood is almost jovial at first, but transitions down pretty quickly thereafter. The foulness sometimes bubbles under the surface, while other times it is out there fully. At times, they band seems to lose direction as well.
"Apokathastasi" closes the album. It's another odd sounding song where the instruments each seem to be doing their own thing. Never mind the vocals, which are all over the place. If you listen closely, you can hear some connections overall, but they are abstract and chaotic. The album is akin to what hell is probably like in some religions...a huge melting pot of fire and liquid lava that subjects are trying to get out of. Some do, and others don't, and the entire scene is just people drowning in the fire one by one while other escape, temporarily. Demons round them up and toss them in, and you could watch this forever. Although the album is quite creative and unusual, I would find it hard to recommend an audience for it. I enjoyed it, however.
