Review Summary: The whole EP plays like one really cool intro to a song that never actually starts.
So this is Erragal,or “Lord Erragal as he calls himself, a one-man ambient, “black metal” project from a guy in Baghdad, who also has another one-man show he calls “Amelnakru“. So, in way this is the Mirrorthrone of the Middle East. Only way, way worse.
The song “under the shivering light of a candle” set the pace of the EP, with a repetitive piano part, over some flute like noise, and Lord Erragal screaming about his rotting corpse or something. Did I mention that it’s the same line repeated pretty much throughout the whole song? Yep.
Anyway, next is the title track ,”anthems of isolation”, parts I & II. Frankly, I have no idea why Erragal decided to spit this track up, they’re pretty much both the same. They have the same drum fill repeated for their duration, with ambient, background screaming (though it’s noticeably louder in part II), and a repetitive (boring) chord progression on some synth-organ type keyboard effect. Actually I remember thinking, the first time I heard it, that this was gonna be sweet once the over-distorted guitar and blast-beats started… only they never did. The screams fluctuate between, what seems to be, Erragal’s best impression of a pterodactyl, and him burping too close to the mic. Again, it might have been effective if they weren’t often too loud, and if it was accompanied by
anything interesting, but it’s not.
Finally, “tears of mami” closes this foray into half-written songs, which essentially follows suit with the rest of the songs, only it’s louder and (slightly) faster. Oh , but now the chord progression now includes the subdominant, and even a Picardy third, so clearly the music must be interesting.
I really, really want to support extreme music in oppressive nations, such as Iraq. But, unfortunately, I don’t think this is an expression of rebellion by an oppressed population, like early BM (or even Acrassicauda). Any knowledge of Iraqi society, and indeed that of most Arabic nations, will expose two distinct social castes; the obscenely wealthy, and the destitute poor. Only, there’s no cushy “if I work hard, someday I’ll make it” social mobility that we enjoy in America, or even Europe. The poor work hard indefinitely, and the rich don’t need to, ever. It would seem that Lord Erragal is from the latter, comfortably angsty in unearned wealth. I can’t imagine how else he would be able to release so much crappy music.
