Album Review: Thy Catafalque - Alföld
Reviewed by Rick Eaglestone
The humble genius that is Tamas Katai returns to break down generic barriers once again under the Thy Catafalque umbrella with latest release 'Alföld'.
Now, with any Thy Catafalque album is something of an experience and going by the amount of recording and guest artists queuing up to contribute really is a testament to highly regarded Thy Catafalque are, so the anticipation is already at a high.
Throughout the album’s near forty-five journey, the nine tracks take the listener through the band’s history and ever evolving craftmanship, for instance opening track ‘A csend hegyei’ pairs sludge infested death metal with elements of death doom sprinkled in whereas the follow up track ‘Testen tui’ is almost a combination of 00’s Nile and blackened death which paired with ‘A folddel egyenlo’ which features some really nice atmospheric parts and makes for a great starting trilogy.
I can’t help being drawn into title track ‘Alföld’ with its majestic heaviness and addition of the French Horn gives the track some extra depth but then the cosmic elements in the middle, ethereal backing vocals from Martina Veronika Horváth and prominent bass lines absolutely confirm that this is my highlight track of the release and it’s nine-and-a-half-minute length breezes through effortlessly.
The album then moves to the more folkier ‘Folyondor’ which again has a cosmic element which makes this instrumental piece really stand out, this is followed up nicely with ‘Csillagot gorgeto’ which also has some folk elements but with more of a focus on prog.
Moving back into the darker side once more ‘A felkelo hold orsaga’ weaves into the short instrumental ‘Sziriusz’ serving as an intro for the albums final track ‘Nema vermek’ which incorporates nearly all the elements contained in the album previously but contained in that is an underlining bleakness that I particularly enjoyed as too the subtle synths elements that added a bit extra to the heavier parts of the track.
As ever with a Thy Catafalque release, all the hallmarks of the past are there which still manages to embrace elegance whilst at the same time still demonstrating that they are not being afraid to still unleash some relentless pacing.
