Review Summary: Murmur's love for other genres like Progressive Rock and Jazz help them create an engaging and interesting Black Metal record, even if at times it is a little rough around the edges.
Murmur is a band that unfortunately might be compared to a band like deafheaven due to their blending of Black Metal with other seemingly incompatible genres of music, which is an extremely unfair and unwarranted comparison. Unlike their pink-covered counterparts (and many other bands for that matter) who have heavy post-rock leanings, Murmur have an affinity for various different genres including hardcore punk, jazz fusion, and progressive rock (as evidenced by their King Crimson cover included as a bonus track). Don’t get me wrong, this is unmistakably a Black Metal record. However on their self-titled album, Murmur don’t just write a 42 minute blur of blast beats, wretched vocals, and tremolo picked guitar leads.
The first track, “Water From Water”, is unsuspecting enough. An ominous acoustic guitar lead with Arabian flavor starts off the track and gives off the vibe that you are in for more than a half an hour of aural abrasion. The guitar eventually leads into the meat of the song, which consists of furious drum pounding, dismal sounding guitar riffs played at breakneck speed, and cacophonous vocals. Choir vocals in the background help to realize the depressing mood Murmur is going for on this track. The song eventually transitions into a similar acoustic guitar pattern that was presented at the beginning and gradually flows into the next track.
From the second track “Bull of Crete” and on, Murmur hit the listener with a surprise right hook and really begin to showcase their outside influence and stray from typical Black Metal sounds. The wretched vocals present on the previous track have been swapped out (but still reappear on later tracks) in favor of a shout that is reminiscent of the type of shouting that Jacob Bannon of Converge would do. Very intelligible clean vocals also make their presence known on “When Blood Leaves” and a handful of other tracks. These distinct vocals styles add variety and a flair to this album that many other similar albums are lacking.
The instrumentation as well is extremely unique and is where they truly unearth their other influences. On a multitude of tracks, dissonant and furious riffage that is akin to more normal black metal sounds make themselves heard. But on tracks like “Al-Malik” and “Bull of Crete” one can hear many progressive rock influenced riffs. And on “Recuerdos” a Latin-inspired acoustic guitar part provides a nice interlude after the three long and winding opening songs. Jazz influence also is brought up on this track and “Zeta II Reticuli” as well through the keyboard parts sprinkled throughout and create an intriguing sonic dynamic. The drumming is also extremely fluid and is the highlight of the album. Blast beats are present throughout the duration of the self-titled, but when songs slow down, the drums follow suit and manage to stay engaging at the same time. There are also moments on this LP, like the during crescendo on “Bull of Crete” for example, where it sounds like drummer Charlie Werber’s hands have to be moving with incredibly velocity and leave you in awe at his skill.
Not to say that this album doesn’t have its flaws though. The vocals often times feel buried in the mix and the overall vocal delivery is not terrible, but it isn't as impressive as any of the other instrumentation present. Also, while the album has a great flow and cohesion to it, Murmur’s self-titled still feels slightly rigid and rough around the edges mainly due to the constant transitions from one style to another which sometimes come off as awkward or slightly forced. But these moments are very few and far between, and these complaints don’t make the album unenjoyable. Overall, Murmur create one of the more unique genre blends of recent memory that is definitely worth checking out.
