Very recently I got in touch with the human being behind Polish label Fluttering Dragon Records, which I used to follow in their early years (formed at about half of the Nineties). I did (and still do) deeply appreciate material from the likes of Puissance, Umbra, Northaunt, Ildfrost or Ontario Blue, for what it’s worth. Then things turned silent, yet apparently the label did sort of resurrect, resulting in more than just one hand full of appreciable new material.
A ‘new’ act on the label is Infamis Tenebre, although one might consider it a successor from Infamis, a project that was active during the second half of the Nineties until 2005 or so. Now, after almost two decades, Infamis was reborn as Infamis Tenebre. In collaboration with the related label Fluttering Dragon Records, Infamis Tenebre released a first album under that renewed moniker, called Widma. Widma is Polish for ‘specters’ and was mainly recorded at the Hell House Studio, with mastering duties eventually taken care of by Szymon Szwarc.
This time, Wojciech ‘Infamis’ Zięba (whom you might know as well from e.g. Voices Of The Cosmos or Krępulec [with some releases on his now-defunct label Beast Of Prey]) collaborated with vocalist Piotr Huzar. Wojciech took care of all song-writing, all instruments, production and mix, while the poetry was written by a certain Pawel Zaremba. It’s a pity that I do not fully understand Polish, for one can feel the spiritual, emotive, chimerical and dauntless concept behind, and around, this stunning record.
I have a flame on my tongue. Under it, I will conjure venom… (from Jad)…
Besides a digital opportunity, there are physical options too: a tape-edition (which includes two bonus-tracks!), a digipack CD (which includes an eight-page booklet with lyrics and fine photography), and a special, evidently limited, wooden box compact-disc. It does come with exceptional cover artwork, with layout duties done by Mister Infamis himself.
Widma touches quite a unique sonic approach, organically injecting a basement of Dungeon Synth oriented epicism with elements from Ritual Ambient, Nordic Folk and Neo Folk, Dark Ambient and Neo-Classical. The stylistic content gets describes as ‘Dungeon Chant Music’, which has to do with the unexpected yet somehow well-thought interaction in between the instrumental and the vocal balance. The better part of the voices is a clean, melodious, little high-pitched form of chanting. It needs some time to ‘get into’ this rapprochement, yet with each listen, it grows and evolves naturally. Okay, once in a while, that voice might sound little shaky and unstable, but that’s nothing but a minor (and therefor totally negligible) remark. Also some whispers, some harsher vocals, choir-like additions and even an injection of throat-singing, complete the vocal part.
The album consists of eight hymns (two of them being lengthy instrumental epics with an English title; the others coming with Piotr’s chanting), having a total running time of forty-seven minutes. It is quite a diverse experience, with quite obscured parts and some more enlightened fragments, but the total result is very cohesive. It’s about archaic themes of witchcraft, spirituality, ritualism and mystique, both dark and light, both natural and ceremonial.
Widma starts with Wiedźma (‘witch’), the shortest track out of eight. For some reason, it sort of reminds me of Cantica Lunae (Songs Of The Moon) by Impressions Of Winter, but that aside. String-like harmonies open, injected by obscure symphonic synths, and soon joined by different percussions, additional layers of keyboard-based melodicism, and the aforementioned harmonious vocals. The roots of Dungeon Synth surround the ethereal classicism of instrumental consonance, covering the whole with a hint of Gothic-rooted grandeur. The addition of (church) bells and chimes add that dimension of mystery and esoterism, which works both mind-expanding and, at the very same time, intimate. The next song, Krzyk, offers a comparable approach, with sort-of-plucking alike strings, with both floating and bombastic synths, and with these characteristic, captivating melodic vocals. With Battle Horn, then again, things do evolve into the firm epic of old-schooled Dungeon Synth, with heroic yet somewhat doomed keyboard-structures, mesmerizing synth-lines, confident and brisk percussions and above all, an atmosphere of victory and glory. It’s a multi-layered experience that injects allusions of martial grandeur and medieval finesse. In the dramatic piece Złoto I Stal, the diversified vocal capacities grow (with those aforementioned throat-chant-like timbre), but Jad (with its duration of eight minutes, it’s the longest composition on this album) exceeds all superlatives, both vocally and instrumentally. Multiple levels of mysterious melodies, pounding orchestration and transcendental atmospheres accompany the listener into (dream) worlds of both introspective and post-dimensional mind-travelling. Listen to those harsher voices once in a while (referring to the Nordic-styled Folk content, with throaty whispers and icy growls), or to the combative and militant drum patterns… Darkness Clang brings another effort of deep-dungeon-laden ambience, enlaced by oppressive obscurity and ceremonial occultism, introducing a diverse scala op percussions on top of the manifold, mainly monolithic synth-lines. The most alleviated piece might be the rather short track Rytuał Ziemi, which exhales a doomed, even sensitive and delicate fairness. Here too, the harmonizing percussions, keyboards and voices get canalized into a honest, subtle and respectable song, smoothly introducing the final composition, Szaman, that pays tribute to purity and unity. Ritual Folk, Martial Ambient and Dungeon Synth intertwine organically, as a refined and inceptive closure for this first highly-enigmatic Dark Folk Opera.
This debut by Infamis Tenebre needs, and deserves, several listens, for each time it does reveal new elements hidden before. Do not expect a harsh and kinetic effort, yet luxuriate in a mind-refining experience, seen through the Inner Eye of the unphysical reality…
https://flutteringdragon.bandcamp.com/album/infamis-tenebre-widma
https://infamistenebre.bandcamp.com/album/widma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op3c9H8a7uk