After four years, and after bass player Viper (better known as Vicotnik from e.g. Dødheimsgard, Strid, Ved Buens Ende or Naer Mataron) and vocalist Kvohst leaving the band (the latter is currently in young Finnish band Hexvessel and several other great acts, like Gangrenator, Decrepit Spectre and Beastmilk), Code return with their third full length studio album, Augur Nox (after 2005’s Nouveau Gloaming, and 2009’s Resplendent Grotesque, released respectively via Spikefarm and Tabu). The band (guitar players Andras and Aort, bassist Syhr, drummer Lordt, and vocalist Wacian) entered the Orgone Studio (think: Ulver, Blutvial, Grave Miasma, Cathedral, Spearhead a.o.) with the attention to refine, as well as to expand the former efforts.
Coming close to an hour, Augur Nox indeed seems to expand the material of all former material. The fundaments still are based on hyper-kinetics and avant-gardism with a bleak-black heart. The multi-faced layers bring forth the progressive intentions and expressions from the past, with newly-created border-cross-passages that cover a whole range of emotions, from cosmic to abyssal, from introvert to expressive, from high-maintenance to self-indulgence. There is an enormous dynamic drive going on, and at the same time an explicit open-mindedness (can you imagine this definition by means of a mostly progressive Extreme Metal creation?... Blame undersigned if you’re confused [for undersigned does not care]). And since there are so many acts nowadays combining the extremities of Death and Black metal at the one hand, and the progression of modern, post-modern and even futuristic elemental un-traditions at the other, it is not that easy to fulfil the listener’s wishes. In my personal case, I am sort of left unsatisfied this time, for I do detest the lack of cohesion, and I do hate the clinical performance of material that could have been much more radiant if only the safe approach was tempered a little more. All right, I do recognize the current competition, and with the current crisis in mind… But how comes that some bands do succeed to ***, and others do not *** at all?
Disappointing!...