THY CATAFALQUE are an avant-garde metal band from Hungary/Scotland and by the gods these guys are really pushing the musical boat out with incredibly heavy and atmospheric songs, cut up with jazz, electronica and folk combined with classical and it is an incredible listen.
'Hajnali csillag' is jazzy, atmospheric and folky and the transition into 'Szamojéd freskó' heavy as balls metal then seamlessly goes into folk dark synthwave 'Töltés', 13 minutes in I have already gone on a musical journey and loving every second of it. As the album progresses from synthwave we then hit i can only describe as folk synth polka 'Gőte', This album surely is consistent at surprising you and i am only 4 tracks in so far!
'Sárember' keeps things interesting bringing the metal element back in combined with everything that came before it...I cant praise the musicianship any more if i tried, there's so many layers of instrumentation, experimentation and influences but remaining purely its own thing.
'Hajó' brings the synths and atmosphere back and reminding me of 80s Goth this songs is very odd and short soon enough we are back into thundering drums and fierce metal guitars accompanied by black metal vocals 'Lágyrész' progresses into atmosphere setting the tone.
'Sík' to kick in with psychedelic black metal sounding guitars but reminding me of Goth again eventually going harsh with trumpets and the main riffs funky groove giving me a serious 'Ishahn' feeling. This album is incredibly diverse and experimental but at this point I am unsure if that is to their detriment, doing lots of styles pretty well and experimenting with them is great but it makes the album sound schizophrenic and its not sure what its trying to be and say.
'Balra A Nap' reminds me of the 90s chemical brothers mixed with traditional folk and felt out of place more so than any other track so far i wonder if that's to refresh the listener for the finale?
'Tenger, Tenger' violin intro tore through me with its raw and almost frightening sound giving me a 'Ne Obliviscaris' vibe, soon goes full folk/pop reminding me of 'Orphaned Land' with organs.
'Ének A Búzamezőkről' kicks off with a finale sounding guitar tone going into full doom metal mode and I am loving it, truly feels like the end of a album with slow heavy guitars beating your ears accompanied with synths and spoken sections creating a atmosphere of dread and misery ending with folk singing and guitar solo to end the mental story.
Overview: THY CATAFALQUE takes you through a experimental electronic avant-garde folk progressive metal mind trip with incredible musicianship and no limitations, There is no doubt these are pushing the boundaries of music and that can only be a good thing.
9/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmy1JZ4uthg
https://www.facebook.com/thycatafalque/
https://thycatafalqueuk.bandcamp.com/album/geometria