AN NCS PREMIERE: THY CATAFALQUE — “MEZOLIT”

 

How does Thy Catafalque follow up an album as remarkable as 2015’s Sgùrr, especially only one year later? That’s the first question that popped into my head when I learned the surprising news just yesterday that Season of Mist would be releasing a new Thy Catafalque album later this year; the name of the album is Meta, and it’s now set for release on September 16, 2016.

I don’t yet have a complete answer to the question I asked myself, but I do have a partial one because I’ve now heard the first advance track from Meta — and you can too. Today we bring you the premiere of “Mezolit“.

The existence of Meta really did come as a shock. There’s been very little in the way of hints about its existence, or at least none that reached my greedy ears. But when I wondered how Thy Catafalque’s brilliant alter ego Tamás Kátai would choose to follow the music on Sgùrr, it wasn’t because I thought he had reached a pinnacle on the album that he could not surpass, or necessarily a reflection of doubt that he could produce an album of great quality so soon after the release of the last one. It was more a question born of sheer curiosity about what direction he would choose to follow.

 

Photo by Gyongyi Kudlik

 

Sgùrr was itself an unusual and varied album, and the range of Kátai’s musical interests is demonstrably even broader (for example, check out his 2016 solo album Slower Structures if you haven’t already). So listening to only one song from this new album may not tell us very much about what else Meta holds in store — but that’s part of the fun of discovery that comes with new releases by this project.

On “Mezolit”, Kátai is joined by the voices of growler Lambert Lédeczy (Ahriman, Mörbid Carnage, Tyrant Goatgaldrakona) and Gyula Vasvári — the latter being the phenomenal vocalist of Hungary’s Perihelion. There are other wonderfully talented guest artists on Meta, many of whom have collaborated with Thy Catafalque before (and here again, Kátai himself was responsible for guitar, bass, keyboards, programming, lyrics, as well as making his own vocal contributions):

Attila Bakos: clean vocals on “Uránia”
Judit Csere: cello on “Sirály”
Ágnes Tóth: soprano on “Sirály”
Balázs Tóth: lead guitar on “Ixión Düün”
Orsolya Fogarasi: female vocals on “Malmok járnak”
Zoltán Kónya: vocals on “Malmok járnak”
Luci Holland: oboe on “Malmok járnak”
Gyula Vasvári : clean vocals on “Vonatút az éjszakában” and “Mezolit”
Lambert Lédeczy: vocals on “Mezolit”

 

Photo by Gyongyi Kudlik

 

Although “Mezolit” may not tell us very much about the full spectrum of music on Meta, it is at least a very tantalizing introduction to the album. For one thing, it’s an unusually heavy beast, introduced by staggering, doom-stricken chords and Lédeczy’s monstrous, cavernous roars. The haunted melody that drifts like a wraith around that massive foundation is eerie and plaintive, and anguish flows like a wellspring of tears from Vasvári’s vocals.

Though some might be surprised at the almost Sabbathian quality of the song’s opening minutes and the presence of those gargantuan death metal vocals, one thing should come as no surprise at all: The song sticks in the head quickly and firmly.

 

The artwork for Meta was created by Agnessa Kessiakova, who is from Sofia, Bulgaria. This is the complete track list:

1. Uránia
2. Sirály
3. 10^(-20) Ångström
4. Ixión Düün
5. Osszel otthon
6. Malmok járnak
7. Vonatút az éjszakában
8. Mezolit
9. Fehérvasárnap

Pre-orders for CD and vinyl editions will soon be available here:

http://shop.season-of-mist.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=thy+catafalque

And you can follow Thy Catafalque on Facebook via this link:

https://www.facebook.com/thycatafalque/