Thy Catafalque — Vadak
Hungarian experimental folk / progressive metal project Thy Catafalque has had a series of winners in the last decade with a series of increasingly ambitious albums that strayed progressively further from the band's bedroom black metal roots, culminating in 2018's Geometria and 2020's Naiv. Originally a solo project, Thy Catafalque's sound has expanded to include a host of consistent collaborators and now sounds almost orchestral in its compositional scope and sonic massiveness. It took only a couple of minutes to discern that this new album, Vadak is a worthy successor to these detailed epics.
The central cornerstone of their music is circular, scalar European folk melody of the kind one might expect to hear from a fiddle, bagpipes or in this case, hurdy-gurdy. In strident Viking metal fashion, they carry these triumphant leads to their logical destination in a heroic charge, with a positive, reverent emotional energy. These patterns give the guitarist many opportunities to showcase flowery sweeps and paint in a shaded forest colour palette, with delicate cascading chord changes.
The production is less elaborate than the last couple of albums from the group, bringing the focus back to the rock lineup at the core of the group. This isn't a good or bad thing, as I greatly enjoyed the strings on the previous album, but the musicians here have no difficulty carrying interest on their own. Unlike the music of the previous album Naiv, which broke into acoustic and world music passages for many minutes at a time, much of this album features heavy drumming and distortion, and what interludes there are sound heavily inspired by goth, darkwave and vintage German ambient and krautrock, with synth work by a single keyboardist, rather than a host of layered acoustic instruments. The band has a knack for long instrumental sojourns and builds, and they always resolve satisfyingly, never meandering too far. There's a lot of arpeggiated, almost new wave sounding synth timbres, lending a vintage cinematic feel to this album I haven't heard from this band before, and I'm reminded of Ulver's recent offerings.
The churning black metal riffing which dominated the band's early work is undoubtedly still present on a lot of this album, which is decidedly more 'metal' than the last two outings by this band. Subtract the synth orchestration taking place around it, and many of the riffs found here would not be out of place in a Dimmu Borgir song. There's a lot of palm-muted chugging and oceanic chord work at a slower tempo as well, taking influence from other genres of metal like groove and doom.
Vadak is a less experimental album by Thy Catafalque, but no less successful. I might even call it accessible, as its hard to imagine any fan of folk or Viking metal failing to find what they need in the tuneful guitar writing of this album. More so than ever before, Thy Catafalque sounds like a band with tight rhythmic power, ready to demonstrate their powerful synchronization in a live setting at will. Fans hoping for a return to the group's metal era have gotten it, though the result is certainly imbued with the melodicism of their modern style as well. They have accomplished some of the most natural feeling progressive music of the modern era.