Et Moriemur – Epigrammata

Band – Et Moriemur

Album – Epigrammata

Country of Origin – Czech Republic

Genre – Death Doom

Release Date – March 20th, 2018

Label – Transcending Obscurity Records

Author – Hayduke X

Tears fill your eyes as you slowly, hesitantly stretch forth your hand. With trepidation, you grasp the handle. Sweat makes your palms clammy and you hope, pray, that your grip doesn’t slip, for nothing could be worse than dragging out the inevitable. The look in his eyes speak the unspeakable. The gleam of pain begs for you to follow through on your promise, begs for release, and begs too for you to carry out the second half of your task. You wipe your eyes with the back of your free hand and then gently, but with a tender firmness, you slide the blade home. You have done right. The gleam of pain transforms, for the briefest moment to transcendent love, forgiveness, and gratitude, for you have done the most difficult task a friend can offer. Then the light goes out, and you know part two must now begin…

The above scene is pure fiction, but the kind of fiction brought forth by the powerful emotions surfaced by Epigrammata, the latest full length release from the Prague based quintet Et Moriemur. Though I labeled the band as death doom above, that is something of a convenient distillation of everything they are. That genre is probably where they best fit, but there is wonderful use of atmosphere, occasional surfacing of black metal elements, and even hints of ambient. The resultant composition is wonderfully somber, emotionally heavy, at times excruciatingly beautiful, and in many ways, a masterpiece.

From your perch on the fire escape in the alley, you wait, watching the dim doorway of his building. The steel is cold through your jacket as you lean against the fence. The wind chaps your cheeks. Your toes are going ponderously, achingly numb. None of this matters. Soon, the second half of your promise will be fulfilled. Soon you can become you again. Soon you will no longer stalk the night. Soon your vengeance will be served.

Zdeněk Nevělík handles vocal duties with rasps, wheezes, growls, and cleans that draw the listener through a range of moods, weaving emotions through the tapestry of sound created by the rest of the band. Next on the impressive roster, we have Aleš Vilingr and Pavej “Pája” Janouškovec, who combine to create riffs and roars from six stringed beasts. All of the madness, all of the ebb and flow, is controlled by the rhythm section however. Enter Karel “Kabrio” Kovářík (bass) and Michal “Datel“ Rak (drums). With a masterful sense of wholeness, the composition known as Epigrammata flows like one multilayered journey into the abyss.

The time has come. All is in place. Your quarry has unknowingly played into your hands. He walked directly beneath you, in the sleepy hours of the early morning no less, and the capture was child’s play. Hauling him to this secluded warehouse without being seen took a little more doing, but the difficult has now been done. You find yourself, once again, stretching forth your hand. This time, no tears enter your eyes, though they are leaking from his. As you clasp the cold handle, you have no fear of the blade slipping. You intend to take your time, after all. It’s irrelevant if the initial stab is slightly off target. As the minutes tick past and your blade methodically moves through his flesh, like a sewing machine needle writ large, you find your mind wandering. It’s as if you step outside of yourself. You see what you are doing, and understand intellectually that you should feel horror at your own actions, but you don’t. You see beauty in it, if anything, but in fact, you don’t feel… There is nothing left to feel… There is nothing left… There is nothing…

Et Moriemur have created an immense album. In the manner of the old masters, they have created a composition in ten parts. Epigrammata is not meant for listening a track at a time. It is meant for headphones and a dark room and 53 minutes of time alone and then more time to process and float in the abyss created by the music, the abyss of the silence left behind by the final notes. This is meant for weeping.

Recommendation:  Feel all the feels.

Rating:  4.5/5