I would like to introduce to you the only remaining active project of Tamás Kátai and particularly their album Tünö Idö Tárlat.
A little bit of history: Thy Catafalque formed in 1998 and released 3 full-length albums up to date. They started as an Avantgarde post-black metal band with keys, effects and hyper speed drum playing. Actually, a drum machine was used and is still used, and (I hope) it won’t change a thing.
Nevertheless, their music changed and became more “colorful”. This variety and progress is what can be heard on their 2004 album Tünö Idö Tárlat. The release generally deals with time and space, although there are some songs telling about autumn and death. Covered poems by authors of Nyugat can be found as well.
The music is characterized by the heavy black, thrash metal like guitar playing and the “cybernetic” keyboard effects. And of course don’t forget the sound of drum machine and the growled vocals. Yet, there are much more shrieked black metallish vocals on this release. One can still find beautiful female, and clean but distorted vocals.
I don’t think this album could be seen as post-black metal now. Comparing Thy Catafalque to Kátai’s other band Gire, the first thing you will notice is the difference of the tone. Thy Catafalque seems to be an experiment, a much more radical one than Gire was. In this album there are soft, easy-flowing songs and yes, there are harsh and heavy ones as well. The second thing which can be distinctive when you are checking the tracklist is the length of the songs. There are 5-minutes-songs but the second track is a real “epic poem” with 19 minutes featuring various movements. This one incorporates high-speed black/thrash metallish parts with soft female vocals, electronic and almost drum ‘n’ bass like periods. While listening to the middle of the song you can feel yourself walking even on the land of Middle-Earth. The highly atmospheric music takes care of it.
Anyways, the interesting thing is that Tamás manages to mix these styles into one piece without making you feel you are listening to some idiot genre blending or anything! There is an American band called Crotchduster doing this kind of silly mixing, but that’s a fun band; you cannot take them seriously. But in the case of Thy Catafalque the situation is completely different; you will truly realize it while watching the video of “Csillagkohó”.
To sum up, Thy Catafalque is much more than “simple” post-black metal today. The music of the band shows the other side of Tamás Kátai, not the one we experienced while listening to Gire. He even finds this album to be the zenith of his musical career up to now.
(You can download the whole album HERE by clicking on the numbers, “Save as..”)
– revon
VITALS:
Release: 2004
Label: Self-released
Avantgenre: Avantgarde Autumn-like Space Metal
Duration: 01:08:58
Origin: Hungary
Official site: http://www.thycatafalque.hu/
Review online since: 13.10.2007 / 10:09:54
TRACKLIST:
01 – Csillagkohó
02 – Neath Waters (Minden Vízbe Mártott Test)
03 – Bolygó, Bolyongó
04 – Kék ég Karaván
05 – Héja-nász Az Avaron
06 – Zápor
07 – Az õsanya Szól Ivadékaihoz
08 – Varjak Fekszenek
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