Fleurety

Evoco Bestias

Aesthetic Death 2011

Norway’s demonic entities under the alias Fleurety return after many years undercover with 2 new songs in an amazingly packaged 7” ep. To my surprise, throughout these years of absence, Fleurety have stripped off all the experimental, electronic sounds their Last Minute Lies and Department Of Apocalyptic Affairs releases have, and they return to their more primitive black metal sound. What has always made Fleurety unique and given them a very distinct sound from the rest of the Norwegian bands is their avant-garde approach to black metal. Of course, later many bands mixed avant-garde and jazz influences in their music and sound but Fleurety did it from their very beginning with the Black Snow demo. Both songs in Evoco Bestias employ great doses of avant-garde perversity that Fleurety blend in their music with a unique ability and I dare to say that musically both songs are closer to their A Darker Shade Of Evil 7” ep and Black Snow demo. What changes here are the vocals. The Summon The Beast track of side A kicks in with a slow hypnotic part and, instead of the high pitched vocals of Black Snow and A Darker Shade Of Evil, Ayna Beate Johansen enters with a beautifully ethereal and melodic voice pattern that falls out with the music but at the same time fits so perfectly well. After a few moments of a calm and weird melody both Fleurety and Ayna change mood so abruptly that the air around you thickens and a storm is unleashed. Blast beats and guitar paranoia take control and Ayna is transformed from a sweet princess into a filthy witch spewing words in a poisonous and terrific manner. This part reminds me a bit of the crescendo in Profanations Beneath The Bleeding Stars and the paranoia continues until the end of the song. Turning to side B and Animal Of City, Fleurety continue in a fast tempo and the vocals are handled by Hatlevik in a very bizarre way; for a moment the song slows down, giving a quick breath only to speeds up again. Someone will say that their music here is more typical and straightforward but yet again Fleurety cannot escape their avant-garde essence. In the final moments of the track Hatlevik continues his preaching, cleverly supported by Ayna’s ethereal mouth harp in the background which then comes forward and completes the song. Finally, as I said in the beginning, Aesthetic Death did an amazing work in the packaging which is completed by the minimalistic artwork of the well-known Norwegian artists Trine and Kim. It is absolutely recommended to be heard on vinyl at 45 rpm.

 

Reviewed by Sakis