Continuing on my masochistic journey into the deep and forever dark metal genre I encountered something of an anomaly. Whilst “Consequences of Disbelief” by Relicon had many of the hallmarks of the aforementioned genre, this EP was considerably more subtle than expected and consequently had an unexpected emotional impact.
I don’t know if this approach is standard amongst Finnish melodic metal bands but I suspect that it is not and “Consequences of Disbelief” is perhaps designed to have an acceptability that will exceed the barriers normally placed around the genre. Many of the sonic clues expected of the black leather and devil worship purveyors are still there in the form of muscular riffs and persistent percussion yet the lyrics draw from a deeper, and probably personal, well for their inspiration with the instruments of maximum volume torture being pushed back into a supporting role.
It may seem unusual to recommend paying attention to the words when referring to any metal bands in any of the many metal sub genres yet that is an entirely valid course of action in this case. In simple terms, this EP is well worth a listen.