One of Ireland’s most prominent bands return with the third full length studio recording, almost exactly two years after Mammal (see Concreteweb’s Archive Section’s May 9th 2011-update for the really fabulously written -hehe- review done by undersigned). The stuff, coming with rather sober artwork, lasts for forty eight minutes, by the way.
Teethed Glory And Injury starts with Mills, an introductional track with a wide range of elements, from electronic to symphonic, from sludgy to industrialised. But Mills isn’t just a stupid intro to the album. As soon as this track flows over into God Alone, the listener will be surprised (positively!) by the progression this band made (again). God Alone stands for technically well-balanced, slightly experimental and avant-garde-oriented Modern Black Metal with a so-called Post-approach. This stuff is able to expand the narrow-minded boundaries of unlimitness (?) into trans-spiritualistic spheres of abyssal Grimness / Darkness. In comparison to Mammal, Teethed Glory And Injury sounds less Post-Rock oriented (I did refer to Prophecy with the former review), but the band sort of transgendered largely towards a rather Lupus Lounge-approach (the smart ones, or the connoisseurs, might notice both the comparison and the difference for sure), and the whole sounds less repetitive as well. The Doom-elements that were part of the whole in the past have been traded for rather sludging melodies as well, and in combination with the expanded elements of Industrial and Trance-Psychotropic Ambient (let’s add a certain ‘oink’…), this evolution comes to perfection when combined with the technical and unconventional melody lines that really are renewing the sound of this splendid band.
Or: Teethed Glory And Injury cannot be compared to White Tomb or Mammal at all, despite a certain continuously characterisation, but this album is a new chapter in Altar Of Plagues history. A challenge, a unique experience, but believe me, of the darkest, most chilly, funereal kind!
Very early to say, but his album too might be one of my favourites from 2013 (at least until now)!