Pačess – Monte Liliorum

 

It was almost impossible to find any information on the Czech band Pačess and everything I found was in Czech language. The same goes for the album’s booklet; all songs being written in Czech. It limits the band’s possibilities to make a bigger break through and get established word-wide. However, there’s also something charming about the bands not always singing in English. After all; it is the music itself that is what matters; so let’s dwell a bit deeper into their sound.

Pačess project gathers some well known names of Czech black metal scene, and their debut offering is entitled Monte Liliorum (the only thing not written in Czech?!). The album consists of seven melodic/Viking black metal tracks, a style that was predominant in the early nineties.

The whole atmosphere surrounding this opus is rather dark, dreamy and melancholic, but with intense and uplifting vocals. It rather offers a mix of grim black creams supplemented by some spoken and soft pieces. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the repetitive nature of this album, offering very little new in each song. When it comes to the guitar work, I would also say that it tends to get a bit thin and with not so many convincing riffs.

Yet; Monte Liliorum has this charming and old-fashioned approach both to the song-writing and sound. Both instrumentally and vocally, Monte Liliorum is powerful and sharp record that will please all the fans of epic, melancholic and atmospheric bands such as Bathory, Enslaved etc.