Album Review: Be'lakor - Coherence

As I have noted before, I don't cover much death metal. I have my reasons for why the genre doesn't hold much appeal, but the core of it comes down to this; songwriting. Death metal, even of the melodic variety, rarely has what I would consider memorable melodies. Vocalists, in particular, do little to create engaging and hooky lines for themselves to growl. The genre simply focuses on aspects of music I'm not as enamored by, which is fine. I keep giving Be'lakor chances, though, because the first time I heard them on "Stone's Reach", they came closer than any pure death metal band had to reaching what I think the genre is capable of.

The albums since then have all been good, but disappointing in the face of my expectations. They have doubled down on progressive songs that regularly stretch eight to ten minutes, rather than upping the melodic quotient to try to make their music stand out from a songwriting perspective. I've still liked most of what they've done, but it becomes inconsequential when it doesn't have the lasting appeal of songs you can't escape.

That issue pops up in the opening "Locus", which in the middle of its nearly eleven minutes settles down into a softer section where a brief spoken word passage pops up, only it's mixed in a way to be difficult to hear, and it comes across completely superfluous. The band is trying to play with dynamics, but the ebb lasts too long, and my patience runs out before the song builds back up to its conclusion. The quiet moments are quiet without having anything to say, which kills any momentum the song was working up.

Building momentum that is sustainable would be difficult under any circumstances on a death metal record that stretches an hour long. With that much music, I'm left looking for the bits and pieces my mind can anchor around, and they don't come very often. Unmoored, that leaves the record feeling like being lost at sea, never being able to see land on the horizon. I hear plenty of nice sounding passages, but they blend together into a larger wash of music. Individual songs are harder to discern, as growl and chord sound like every other growl and chord.

So this is where I say that, yet again, death metal escapes me. I want to like what Be'lakor is doing, because I do enjoy their atmosphere, but I'm missing out on the melodic elements I need to become attached to the music. They are a melodic death metal band, but the genre's idea of what that means and mine are incompatible. They almost always have been, and I'm becoming convinced they always will be.