» Thy Catafalque – Meta

Lovingly pinched from Ave Noctum: After blowing my microbial brain through a nuclear-powered orgasmatron with last year’s full-length Sgùrr, I was slightly surprised Thy Catafalque had any creative juice left in the tank. Not only was Sgùrr one of the best albums I heard last year, it was one of those albums that left me mildly concerned that I may never hear some extreme music the same again.

So here we are less than a year later, with yet another opus that I was not-so-secretly hoping would continue where the last one left off. Thy Catafalque’s Tamás Kátai uses a base ingredient of guitars with a buzzing distortion that sounds more Ukraine (think the final 25 minutes of Voice of Steel) than it does from his native Hungary.

Before there’s any temptation to pigeonhole on any level, though, bear in mind that alongside the folk influences are elements of prog, ambient techno, death metal, trippy blackened doom and anything else he feels like lobbing in. Avant-garde is the obvious description that comes to mind but that undersells the energy that flows through every minute of Kátai’s work.

Meta isn’t as straightforward as Sgùrr’s blast – less singular and direct, perhaps in some respects having more in common with some of his earlier works (handily reissued on last year’s Early Works compilation). Whereas Sgùrr could be listened as one track from the outset, this is more of a journey, a canvas that slowly weaves itself together and takes time and thought to see the whole.

Continue reading: Thy Catafalque – Meta (Season of Mist) | Ave Noctum