Tracklist:
- I.N.T.R.O
- Fear Proclaimed
- Imprisoned in Forgotten Dungeon
- Lustmistress
- I Watch the Blood Forever
- Inner Fear
- Love Is a Poisonous Cunt
- Our Crimson Deeds
- Akhu
- Secrets Holders
A dingy band name, a suggestive album title, but, all in all, not your regular bundle of darkened thrash. Inner Fear were first established by current Cradle of Filth drummer, Marthus Skaroupka, way back in 1997. But, through one thing and another, they haven’t been able to produce much before now; this is the band’s full-length debut. With a new cast accompanying Mathus’ drums and keys, including male and female vocalists, Sergey Baidikov and Viktorija Anselmo, Ashok Smerda and Khopek Fausek on guitars, and Sergey Karshev on bass, this Czech project seems finally have come to fruition.
Made freely available by the band on their website, First Born Fear is an entirely self-produced record. And it’s one the band were evidently delighted with. As Marthus explained in an interview towards the end of last year, “If you listen to our new album properly you will find many, many details and pretty tricky arrangements…everything sounds exactly how I wanted it to sound.” Exactly what that sound is is not easy to explain. Inner Fear have whipped up a concoction of extreme, symphonic metal laced with electronic synth. Deep orchestral tones provide the base for pounding rhythms and swirling melodies, while a vocal combination of growls and lullabies paint lyrics through the mist.
The result might best be described as brilliant shadows and dark highlights, and it definitely works to Inner Fear’s advantage. From the very beginning, the band’s own, distinctive style is moulded around the melodious I.N.T.R.O, featuring rich symphonic backing sharpened by raw electronic echoes. Many bands have achieved a highly synthetic sound by accident, as they chase the illusive goal of realistic synthesised orchestral backings, but, in this case, electronic themes are developed consciously and skilfully. Cutting wriggling patterns through dense textures in the introductions of tracks 4, Lustmistress, and 8, Our Crimson Deeds, synth elements also provide an unusual and distinctive take on the well-explored soundscapes of the extreme metal genre. This should take nothing away from the use of strings and brass, which are impressive by any standards. Serving up majestic, haunting harmonies, powerful orchestral blasts, particularly in tracks 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9 are strikingly reminiscent of those employed by Dimmu Borgir.
And on the surface, there’s quite a bit to inspire comparisons between the two. The grinding rasps of lead vocalist, Baidikov, make Inner Fear’s Norwegian counterparts an obvious reference point, while the skilful mixture of symphonic and synthetic might automatically have you reaching for Dimmu’s 2001 masterpiece, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia. But, in spite of Marthus Skaroupka’s Cradle of Filth connection, Inner Fear are an extreme outfit without the baggage of an orthodox black metal past. This seems to have given them a bit more freedom of manoeuvre. Rather than sitting midway between the two genres, First Born Fear situates itself firmly on the harsher fringes of gothic metal, a fact illustrated well by the use of Viktorija Anselmo’s seductive female vocals alongside those of Baidikov. Anselmo sings lyrics in all songs except track 6, the self-titled Inner Fear, where she offers instrumental vocal melodies.
Asked about the lyrical themes explored in the album, Baidikov explained that “Each song is a metaphorical name for a personality’s feelings, e.g. FEAR, love, hate, jealousy, libido, death, etc.” First Born Fear was, apparently, not an attempt to mould an album around a single concept, but the record nevertheless suggests an unfolding story, as told through the exploration of these themes. The “fear” considered in the opening song, track 2, is nothing of supernatural making, but seems instead to be a response to the rigours of social conformity, a stifling presence inhibiting exploration of the primal human senses. As the first rendition of the chorus suggests, there is something beyond the limits of common decency: “Righteous! (Out of my eyes to see one)/Spirit! (Deep in my flesh to feel one)/Wonders! (Something is out there, I’m for, now)” And when the same lines return later in the song, they reveal dissatisfaction at this limiting existence: “Righteous! (Telling the lies to be one)/Spirit! (Never allow one being gone)/Wonders! Something is out there, I’m, for now)”
In this song, there is a clear sense of the hypocrisy of society’s self-appointed moral guardians, who are described by Baidikov’s ferocious screams as “Lepers with halos”. Nonetheless, it is difficult to avoid their domination, as track 3, Imprisoned In Forgotten Dungeon, reveals. This “dungeon” seems to be a prison of the mind, of society’s making. As the “light” fades, a streak of deviancy creeps into the prisoner’s thoughts, “and shadows start to reign my tiny world”. What these “shadows” involve is revealed in the next song, aptly entitled Lustmistress, an ode to “everlasting lust”, a “fever that will kill”. Finally given the freedom of his senses, the subject of the song is consumed: “Undressed to rape my spirit/Her rigid passion heals it/Her body’s covered with divine”. And a taste for the distasteful is an evil with its own seduction, laid bare in the brutal imagery of track 5, I Watch the Blood Forever: “Watching blood – the pleasure I adore too much”. This notion of personal corruption through deviance is developed further in the following song, Inner Fear, in which the released soul’s secret pleasures are contrasted with the austerity of the society around him – “I’m all that scares the world” – while he heralds its doom: “I am the paradox of life/Incarnated hell, rotting paradise”.
But sin and obsession soon give way to disillusionment, beginning with track 7, poetically entitled Love is a Poisonous Cunt. Spurned in his affections, he despairs of love lost – “Its venomous affection kills with the tongues of loving” – while she mocks – “My venom like heaven covers you”. No doubt is left as to the conclusion: “Love is a poisonous cunt/End of story”. Having experienced his fall and subsequent destruction, the subject is given a chance to reflect in tracks 8, Our Crimson Deads, and 9, Akhu. Two conclusions are reached. In the first song, embittered and bruised by the experience, the futility of the whole effort is expressed – “Never ever/Convince my soul’s endeavour”. In the second comes a recognition that return to the sanctity of moral propriety is impossible: on the one hand, those with shame can still not avoid the fall – “And the embarrassed fall in different stream/They’re floating anxious to the universe”; on the other, true consciousness can only be reached by satisfaction of the sinful senses, whatever the cost: “Reason of my lessons/Dying second time/Feeling in my consciousness the sense of divine”. A torn and helpless individual is all that is left in track 10, Secrets Holder, reflecting on the paradox: “We are exceptionally perfect, useless/Trying to inhale what is obscene”. The song ends in a demand: “Refuse me a thousand times/But where’s your truth?”
There’s no reason to disbelieve Sergey Baidikov in his claim that Inner Fear constructed the album as a collection of individual songs, each exploring different elements of the human personality. Nonetheless, they are ordered in such a way that suggests a common – if extremely broad – theme. And its noteworthy that everything, at its base, can be reduced to sensuality. Fear, love, hate, jealousy, libido, and death all seem to have a common cause, and it’s quite subtly played out through the contrasting vocal lines of Baidikov and Anselmo. While the harsh male vocals hammer out the male protagonist’s feelings, he is entertained, soothed, and taunted by the slippery female temptress. Viktorija Anselmo’s vocal melodies are well crafted for this role, sliding seductively across notes, adding further emphasis to an already haunting voice amidst a sea of furious passion.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t always work. Nonetheless, while the album is, in general, excellently produced (especially given the lack of outside funds and professional assistance for the band), the mixing sometimes fails. In particular, during tracks 4 and 10, the female vocal line is so quiet that it’s almost impossible to make out the words. Ironically, this might not be such a bad thing, for the lyrics are frequently shoddy, using basically flawed grammar (horror of horrors!) and what might be termed a “creative” use of the English language: see if you can work out what the phrase “Knee my life to thee” means – I certainly haven’t been able to!
These are, however, fundamentally superficial issues on what remains a very good piece of work. Inner Fear have had plenty of time to build up, hone in, and polish their repertoire, and, on this evidence, they have a lot to offer metal in the coming years. First Born Fear is a potent mixture of darkness and vibrancy, which will have you nursing your bruised ears after your first listen. But it does a lot to rehabilitate a genre often padded out by substandard records. And, offered as a freebee on the band’s website, there can be no justification for not owning a copy.
Production – 4/5
Lyrics – 3/5
Album Coherence – 4/5
Music – 8/10
http://www.innerfear.org/
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