Mefitis - Widdrim Hymn

Mefitis - Widdrim Hymn

Release Date - 2019

Number of Tracks - 3

Country of Origin - United States

Despite how more, well known (for lack of a better term) our reviewing material has become over the years, I do still tend to keep my eyes and ears within the underground scene. It is these scenes which help give this site its foundation and a large chunk of material in the infancy of it. Why ignore that?

Well as of late I’ve been in a very obvious more metal mood which led me to fully check back in with the underground hordes I’m involved in. Within my search I have found quite a few interesting pieces, but our subject today caught my interest as they specifically put an ad out on the (not always) good old Metal Archives wanting reviews for their new album. I spoke with the band (who are very nice guys) and after a wait in the mail for a bit received the album. The name of the band is Mefitis and the album is called Widdrim Hymn. Unlike most reviews I do not have much preamble for this one, so let us pop the sucker in and get down to business.

Tracklisting

1. Widdrim Hymn

2. Battering the Oppidum

3. Banished to the Arid Wastelands

Quick briefing before fully jumping in to the music, Mefitis is a two man operation handled by Vatha (handling vocals, guitars, bass, and writer of the lyrics) and Pendath (drums and also guitars). I bring this up just to put it out there who the band is. That and the fact that for two people the album comes out pretty well. This isn’t a complete surprise, as I have covered many one man bands before that sound good. But truth is I wasn’t fully aware that it was a two member band until I opened up the album and saw the credits. And considering the scope of the album that is pretty impressive.

Now that brings up the question as to what exactly I mean by scope. To put it semi simply, the album has an atmosphere and tone reminiscent of say, Emperor. From the very beginning of the first track the albums sets up the dark and mystical atmosphere it wants you to fall into. Lyrical content is an immediate indication of this as each songs paints a portrait of medieval and rural esque scenes of darkness. Along with that the album itself as you listen and read the lyrics seemingly tells the story of a small community that has been plagued by man disasters and now finds an outsider in their midst who may be bringing even more with him. For a band that is listed as dark metal and has some black metal in its veins I have to say this is quite the content, especially for a three track album. Nothing about Satan or anything close to it, just plain old archaic spookiness.

Helping build that world is the musical content. Like I stated above the band falls into the blacker realm of metal and it certainly shows. However, and this may just be to my ear, but I pretty easily picked out tinges of death, thrash, as well as prog metal at times. Mind you a lot of this comes from the first track (the lengthiest of the album) which weaves in and out of those different sounds. The remaining two tracks I’d probably put down as more tradition black (in way of Gorgoroth) but the first track is certainly interesting. I will say that, while I do enjoy the song, it does go on a little too much and at times the (to me) switching between different forms of metal can be a bit jarring. But the jarring bits aren’t too much and even with them I found the song to be an enjoyable ride, as are the other two.

Of course as per the norm I cannot speak about an album without touching on the actual music parts from a more technical point. This is something that top to the bottom I must say is just aces. All of the instruments are clearly audible and the work put into the composition is stellar. One thing I really want to point out is just how good the vocal work is. Vatha and Pendath use a variety of different black/death metal vocal stylings to great effect as well as (I shit you not) friggen choir vocals that they do themselves. That is outstanding and it is that which really helps build the atmosphere of the album. I know I said it was a little odd in terms of the non vocal work, but that was only with how sudden it could be at points. This is consistent throughout the record and is done fantastically.

Really I could say that for the entirety of Widdrim Hymn as a whole. I know when I contacted Pendath he did display some concern over the material being out and being reviewed with how new it and the band are, but truth be told I think this is some good stuff. The whole ancient times small village with evil concept is an angle I very much dig, especially since I’ve been blasting through my general collection of albums as of late. With that I adore the atmosphere the band tries and succeeds in setting up. In terms of criticism the only one I can provide is, like I said, the slight suddenness of the stylistic changes in the first track are a little off-putting, but otherwise I do not have any criticisms really.

Overall Meifits did a very nice job with Widdrim Hymn. To be frank this is easily one of the best new independent/underground metal albums I have heard in recent years. If you’re a fan of Emperor, Gorgoroth, dark/black/extreme metal, hell even if you’re a fan of Kuroyume (for those of you that still follow this blog) do yourself a figure and get a copy of this album.