While Law of Contagion may be a fairly new project, it comes from Portuguese musician Ishkur who has been very active in his country’s metal scene for well over a decade. In addition to being a part of Nefret and Sonneillon, Ishkur also plays live with Sardonic Witchery, and this wealth of experience shines through on Law of Contagion’s debut full length Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms. Spread across seven tracks that transition from second-wave black metal influences to blackened death metal, this an album drenched in darkness and an old-school aesthetic. Though the riffs do start to blur together a bit by the end, this is still a strong first showing for Ishkur’s latest band.
One of the first things you’ll notice about Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms is how murky and dark the recording is. Opening track “Heralding the Insane” wastes little time in letting the darkness break through with transitions between ominous, slower riffs and faster blasts that recall some second-wave influences. But the second track “ov Evil”, which is also the longest on the album, is where Law of Contagion starts to branch out a bit and showcase a wider range of influences than your average black metal band. This piece starts off on the slower side with a twisted melody that immediately gets under your skin and spreads outwards with a thicker tonality that feels like it could suffocate you, eventually transitioning over to faster blasting and some riffs that have a bit of punk/rock ‘n roll backbone in their rhythmic approach. As the album continues you’ll find this type of rhythmic variation, with Ishkur also injecting some older death metal riffs into the mix that keep the sound rooted in old-school but keep things feeling a bit more dynamic than second-wave black metal worship. The atmosphere is what will likely pull you in initially, but there are actual riffs underneath the murk that gives the album some much needed substance and the way they hover over the recording with a specterlike presence proves to be quite appealing. Admittedly even with the more dynamic approach, Law of Contagion does fall into some patterns as the album progresses and this does result in a few of the seven songs blurring together and being a bit difficult to pick apart. This isn’t a huge issue given the strength of “ov Evil” and “Litany” which could easily bring listeners back on their own, but moving forward there is room for Ishkur to shake things up even further.
The vocals are one of the elements that initially drew me to Law of Contagion’s music, as the distorted screams and growls have just as much murkiness and grime to them as the instrumentals. Rather than being given a lot of space in the mix and taking the spotlight like on a lot of black metal albums, they just barely break through here and blend together with the guitar work to create a nightmarish sound that is likely to leave a lasting impression on quite a few listeners. This approach can sometimes run the risk of repetition and while the screams do stay at around the same general pitch for much of Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms it never feels like Ishkur is stretching things out too far. It truly feels like he’s channeling dark forces with each verse and the delivery is convincing, which is what you want from black metal.
Ishkur has had a lot of different bands over the years, but Law of Contagion may be one of the most promising yet. With the type of dense and evil atmosphere driving things forward and actual riffs to provide some substance, there’s plenty here to keep listeners coming back. The shifts into death metal and even some slight hints of punk and rock ‘n roll in the rhythms also go a long way, and the only real flaw here is that after a few tracks the album starts to fall into some patterns and blur together slightly. But the potential is there, and this debut builds a sturdy foundation that could easily be expanded upon in the coming years. Woeful Litanies from the Nether Realms is available from Moribund Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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