A.M.E.N. - The Book of Lies, Liber I

A.M.E.N.

Album: Book of Lies - Liber I

Genre: Avantgarde Jazzgrind Metal

Release Date: June 16th, 2023

Country: Italy

Label: I Voidhanger Records

Band Links:  BANDCAMP / FACEBOOK

Avangarde Jazzgrind Metal… Never heard of that genre before? Me neither. But I heard Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Sabelli playing the clarinet back in 2021 for his band Dawn of a Dark Age, which left me absolutely mesmerized because of his wonderful tone and expression on this in metal rarely used instrument. A.M.E.N. is his newest project, for which he sets to music some of Aleister Crowley’s writings from “The Book of Lies”, and “Liber I” is supposed to be the first in a series of releases. 

The result is highly experimental, with sometimes weird sounds, and screamed, spoken as well as sung vocals by different singers, which I wouldn’t necessarily describe as easy listening, but are strongly performed and underline the writing’s desecrating character. There are long instrumental parts, where he melts traditional metal with classical instrumentation and song-writing, but also throws in many jazzy and avantgarde snippets. 

All-together, he takes the listener on a really wild ride, switching between sometimes beautifully melodious and dissonant, furious moments from one second to the other, but again it’s his marvelous clarinet playing that brings in something special for me.

Written by Katha (originally for The Progspace)