silentpath-mournerportraits-reviews

Review from Forgotten Path Magazine

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:56:12 +0100

From: Forgotten Path Magazine; Issue 5
Published: November 2013
Magazine Website

It seems that the debut album of Silent Path tries to continue the traditions, which have been started by “Filosofem” of Burzum and it is typical to the underground Black Metal of the Middle East (for instance, we can remember Animus or Avinar and so on). We hear the music here, which is being performed in a very slow and repetitive way, having almost whispering vocals because of pain and despair. Something that we could call Metal is heard just sometimes, often in climatic places and most of the sounds remind us of Ambient more than Metal, I mean those guitars and interludes of nature. Indeed, if we call Ambient/Black Metal such bands as Paysage d’Hiver, then this music should be called as Ambient with some poor Black Metal nuances. The situation is very similar to mentioned Burzum’s work.

The music distinguishes itself with quite huge mesmerism though it is strongly monotonous and sometimes even pisses me off. If the most of Atmospheric/Black Metal bands can’t create a particular mood, which wouldn’t be chopped off by heavy riffs and would affect the listener by fragments, then here everything is vice versa - almost every song extends over primitively and this is the way how an ongoing image of a desperate melancholic human is being maintained. Of course there are some songs which are not really lengthy, but that musical thread makes the CD very predictable; after listening to the first song you already know what is going to be next. But it is not a disadvantage in any way. Exactly that genuine frustration is so rare in such music nowadays and often it follows behind the miscellaneous sophisticated variations and techniques and in this case it is expressed in such a simple and continuous way that I even have nothing to add on. From the very beginning a desire to talk about exaggerated simplicity and lack of originality completely disappears in the second part, when you dive into Zen and plainly repetitive consonances of sounds. In the end, it’s quite a good CD for the listeners of such bands as Death Aura, Xasthur, Austere, Lyrinx or Elysian Blaze.

Rating: 7.5/10
Reviewed by: Bloodie

Review from Melting Album Reviews

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:35:08 +0100

From: Melting Album Reviews
Published: May 13, 2013
Original Link

Emotion is incredibly hard to convey; what we feel inside is intense and sometimes hard to express, even to someone that we trust. There is this nagging feeling that anything said is inadequate and invalidates the emotion that is churning inside of us because it’s simply not enough. Whether it be positive or negative, it can be incredibly debilitating and frustrating to try to convey these feelings. Silent Path have created an album that is the embodiment of despair and melancholy. It doesn’t present it to the listener as an offering; rather it throws them into a realm that reeks of suffering. Mourner Portraits paints a picture in ways that many people can’t even validate their emotions, and each reverb-drenched note tells far more than what seems possible. A dark and deafening atmosphere is used throughout the entire album and it surprisingly doesn’t sound contrived or overly dramatic, which is a common characteristic throughout the funeral doom genre. Saman Nu, the musical mind and only member of Silent Path, allows for no light to pervade the atmosphere. With that being said, the strength of Mourner Portraits is also its greatest downfall; the album is the very definition of inaccessible. There is no emotional payoff, nor any storybook ending that leaves the listener feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. One won’t look to this album to hear catchy riffs or standout vocals; the tracks bleed into one another and create a singular vision that doesn’t deviate from the opening distorted notes of “Empty Earth”. That is where the album also succeeds, however; the unique and abstract way that Nu uses atmosphere to continually return to the same oppressive notes gives it a continuity that is sorely missed in other albums of the genre.

Mourner Portraits also shows strength in creating an epic soundtrack for the eerie and sinister without stretching out songs to unbearable lengths. Too many times have listeners became bored with self-important bands releasing eighty-minute albums that contain only six or seven songs. Silent Path break the mold and utilize more conventional song lengths which allow the succinct nature to bolster the intrigue of the album as a whole. While some of the songs enter the eight minute range, there is never a feeling of prolonging a song for pretention; rather each part feels integral and natural to the end product. “Forgotten Sounds” blends a sound clip of calm rain with an incredibly eerie, almost carnival-sounding keyboard that isn’t stretched to exhaustion with its four minute length. It lingers just enough to punctuate the uneasiness before launching into “Sarabe Aramesh”, which is much more immediate and features some clean vocals that are par for the course in the doom metal genre, eventually including some powerful screams in the background. The desperate-sounding guitars stay consistent throughout the song, and the plodding pace allows for the depressive tone to reign supreme. Standout track “Epic Suicide” begins beautifully with a warning siren blending with a despondent clean toned-guitar line, building up to a heavily distorted reverb alongside an evil-sounding confessional from Nu. The entire track screams epic in an incredibly depressive tone, and is certainly the penultimate track here. Death-styled growls and higher register black metal rasps meet with the most hypnotic and accessible guitar riff available on the album, providing a perfect sample platter of everything that one should expect of Mourner Portraits. As the song winds down and fades out, there is a recording of a news reporter proclaiming Hitler is dead, which honestly does nothing but add to the dark nature of the album as a whole.

Silent Path have created an intensely dark, macabre affair with Mourner Portraits. It envelopes the listener in a bleak and monotonous world where there is no light to be found. There is no denying that Saman Nu has accomplished what he set out to do, and to those listeners that can find the beauteous and artistic voyage through the depressed soundscape, there is just this itch that cannot be satiated. I can only describe it as relating in some way to world that he has thrown listeners into, and the truth is that this piece of music may have the ability to speak of depression and hopelessness in a way that we cannot relay through conversations of our own. To anyone who has gone through something difficult in their lives, let this dark music be the torch that allows you to know that you are not alone in those deep waters; drown the world out with Mourner Portraits and indulge in the brave new world Silent Path has created.

Rating: 4.1/5

Review from Necomance Webzine

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:47:42 +0100

From: Necromance Webzine

Published: March 27, 2013

Original Link

*Google translation of Spanish review

The truth is that there are few reviews I've done of bands coming from Iran, and this is one of them, this is the SILENT PATH and back albumsm "Mourner Portraits" , released through Hypnotic Dirge Records brings us almost 53 minutes of cutting depressive black metalsimilar to what we have offered bands like Burzum , early My Dying Bride , Morgh and Nortt. 's compositions SILENT PATH is characterized by its density and darkness, created from a part-time depressive melodies with guitars, and ripped the use of synthesizers and piano, combined with the dark voice of the singer, who is slowly whispering to around records more ragged and aggressive. A mixture of Black Metal cutting guitars with a more general atmosphere aimed at Doom and that's when the influences are My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost in its early days, with such tunes as characteristics that marked these bands in its infancy in the music scene. A job that has you listening as you will create that feeling of despair and loneliness and that is clearly not come to all fans of the genre and I think that is focused on a particular group of fans who love these sounds.

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by: David Déniz

Review from Pitchline 'zine

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 04:12:23 +0100

From: Pitchline Webzine
Published: March 15, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of Spanish review

Acedia - Greek avkhdi - as psychological pathology or deadly sin, understood by the Catholic cosmology, representing a total unrest and unease at both the material and spiritual of the sufferer. The total absence of the great void and will go on to become the only eco ecstatic soul. Only a few courageous beings are capable of lancing chains and squeeze these nihilistic disdain and complex emotions in the form of music. It is well known that those apt to scrutinize the most bizarre and gloomy existence artifices of using the composition for treatment are those that open before the doors recursion genius and melancholy. In these lush and negative gates we have with great works like "Mourner Portraits" Silent Path. unknown This is a project of the Iranian Count De Efreet, known for Evoke afrits military, which is responsible for all this somatize underlying darkness and emptiness on a lonely road of no return. This new venture is not too much of his band detaches aforementioned primal, melancholy, despair, atmospheric passages and rich nuances still flooding every corner, but maybe Silent Path is more geared towards Funeral Doom slope than the typical bands as suicide wrap Xasthur or Nortt, although amalgamated manages to create a sound that unites both perspectives. thing we outline Silent Path on his first release "Mourner Portraits" - brushing time extension - is a decadent and defeatist complex atmosphere, feted by hundreds of layers of musical textures that enable a languid dip in our tortured consciousness, very good understanding of bands like Black Canadians. We warned in "Filth Of Mankind" or "Last Men, Last Dreams" with the typical beginning of Funeral Doom bands like Wedard or Mournful Congregation, where repetitive dialogue melancholic guitar lines with dissonant chords straddling rhythmic wrap down- tempo gets off metabolize our hope in perpetual suffering. Includes sections point where the ringing of a grieving sorry grant dynamism piano, coating and brightness to the emotions that are almost narrated by Count De Efreet, as in "Epic Suicide" or the instrumental "Forgotten Sounds", where the atmosphere of abandonment existential are perfectly recreated from the music that springs from the heart of a storm. firsthand, the production of sounds nasty and crunchy guitars but sounds to incorporate layers of make-up this intentional lack elegance and exquisite taste. These are the little details that elevate pointillist "Mourner Portraits" Ipssimuss the category, including the exorbitant layers of guitars, atmospheric interludes, vocal versatility ... delegate a wealth hearing in which hard work is appreciated by compositional Silent Path . Cracking is the theme of "Sarabe Aramesh" viewing and perfectly structured on the basis of negative dissonant riffs is emerging out of nowhere a spun melody is repeated like a mantra, it draws a parallel with the word game that gets the chop weakness of pride in a memorable crescendo. Curious the court that closes the album name like "Unwritten Story" begins with a soothing notes of a concatenation of depressive keyboard willing to submit to oblivion, but as it progresses the theme sounds a dramatized version of the well-known and more weary anthem Christmas "Christmas, Christmas sweet", as they say, unbelievable but true. Get unmask the apparent falsity of happiness twisting the good memories we have of our childhood into a nightmare untamed. Undoubtedly Count of Efreet has nailed by daring to Silent Path, we see the great musical background and experience when investing styles and appropriate them to his own vision of nihilism and decadence absolute bet might call "Mourner Portraits" Funeral Black Metal as it travels on horseback of both styles with wisdom and skill. Is an album for all those willing to get lost in the morass of the unfathomable void. Special mention deserves the extensive artwork with 16 pages that include war photographs, letters and certain press releases. Silent Path has a more consensual basis on which to build a thriving musical evolution under a dim halo of shortness of breath lost in the wind.

Rating: 8.5/10
Reviewed by: Lord Abhorym

Review from Alarm666 Webzine

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:22:20 +0100

From: Alarm666 Webzine
Published: February 13, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Danish review

When talking about metal bands from Iran, it is not exactly musical projects as Silent Path that first pops up in mind. The band, which is a one-man project makes in ambient doom metal with a large dose of black metal atmosphere about it. The result is a fairly interesting but also rather special release out.

From the beginning, you get the depressing hearing steaks, and the atmospheric melancholy style is added in the form of 'Empty Earth', which opens the ballet. Then we jump out into the 'Filth of Mankind', which also reeks of tragedy and despair. One thing that pretty quickly jumps slightly in the ears, production, works full-bodied and full of layers but also easier chaotic and dirty.

One gets the feeling that the main man behind Silent Path, Saman Now aka Count The Efrit, has spent some hours playing with one layer after another in the numbers of hitting the right Trygg end and cold atmosphere which is the password through "mourner Portraits". It is undoubtedly music you have to be in the mood, for it is not exactly Silent Path to be slamming out of the speaker to the New Year celebrations, unless you are ready to someone to kill themselves.

The vocals are mostly smoldering somewhere in the soundstage, and it is reasonable versatile with both the spoken word, hissing black metal, whisper, and often there is also subject to some distortion power over Count The Efrit's outbreak. The keyboard has been a faithful squire in the studio, and there are also many inputs of both sound effects and samples.

It is difficult to highlight some numbers over others, it seems a little like one long trip to get through "mourner Portraits", but songs such as. 'Epic Suicide', 'Gray Dolls From Nowhere', 'Broken Trees' and 'Filth of Mankind' has some fine moments that give a good picture of the faculties Count The Efrit have to create a total depression in musical collages.

Fortunately bares he also his humorous side slightly finisher 'Unwritten Story', where you suddenly hear a short passage with 'Jingle Bells'. Good enough for a slightly more sinister version than usual but still.

"Mourner Portraits" should appeal to fans of funeral doom, ambient doom / black metal and people who generally have a black outlook on life and would like further down in the basement.

An interesting but also very cold and bleak debut album from the ambient metal department in Iran.

Review from Burning Black Webzine

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 01:43:18 +0100

From: Burning Black Webzine
Published: January 16, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of Spanish review

"Mourner Portraits" is the debut album of this Irani one man Black Metal band formed by Count De Efrit only ... As you probably expected, judging by the name of the band and title of this album, Silent Path plays Depressive Black Metal, not the ultra-bitter and anguished kind of DBM, but an introspective, atmospheric and relaxing form of obscurely Black Metal, where ghostly atmospheres created by a conjunction Between subtle lead guitar lines, ethereal keyboards and blackish riffing give shape to this album. The work contains nine tracks this slow paced moves over structures, Which combined with several instrumental interludes and putting great emphasis in the play melodies and hypnotic Creates a sober form of Metal, That even when can be unmistakably labeled under the Depressive Black Metal tag, Seems to scratch the surfaces of the Atmospheric Black Metal along the 53 minutes this album lasts ... The grim voice work of Count De Efreet is blurry, echoing and definitely well Achieved but unfortunately (and intentionally I guess) mixed low and sporadic, Even When Which contributes With The whole ethereal feeling of this album, Also diminish the album's stress at some passages ... As I Mentioned above, "Mourner Portraits" is not the kind of harsh, oppressive and suicidal form of Depressive Black Metal, this album is full of melancholy but at the same time is an introspective work full of obscure beauty, maybe "melancholic" Black Metal would be a more accurate description for this band's work ... Silent Path shows at this debut album an interesting and hypnotic Proposal That Even When still needs some Improving ( maybe a more varied composition and a more distinctive sound would Contribute), definitely shows some potential. I would recommend this album For those into The Most atmospheric and melodic side of the Depressive Black Metal audience.

Reviewed by: Alvaro Pacheco

Review from Sonic Abuse

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 17:13:12 +0100

From: Sonic Abuse
Published: November 25, 2012
Original Link

Silent Path is the name taken by Saman N. (also known as Count De Efrit) for his solo work. Hailing from Iran, Saman takes his cues on this release from the icy, crystalline riffs of black metal and the dank atmosphere of doom. ‘Mourner Portraits’ has had a long and painful gestation, the album originally having been written and recorded in 2009, with label problems leading to the record not actually being released despite having been sent out to websites and magazines for review. Hence ‘Mourner Portraits’ arrives with an extensive booklet offering black and white photography from WWII, lyrics, liner notes and, in an unusual but interesting move, reviews form the period. It is typical of excellent label Hypnotic Dirge to pay such attention to detail and fans will undoubtedly appreciate the effort that has gone into a release that they have been awaiting for such a long period of time.

‘Mourner portraits’ is by no means an easy album. Saman’s love of black metal has clothed the album in a dense, near-impenetrable production that is both grimy and frost-coated. Guitars ring out of the fog, often distorted by the treble wash of the cymbals and rendered opaque by the layers of echoing reverb that drench the recording until it forms a solid wall of noise that leaves the listener gasping with the cold. Musically, however, the sound is linked with the primitive doom metal of the early nineties, with references to Paradise Lost’s perennially under-rated first album, Finnish doom lords Thergothon and the dry horror of early My Dying Bride all eating away at the listener’s soul, with only a hint of Black metal represented with nods to the dense, ideological misanthropy of Burzum informing the tortured riffs that pour forth from the speakers. Such a dry, icy sound is not without its benefits and it is arguable that the production perfectly matches the content and intent of the music, but it is, equally, a love it or hate it sound that will alienate as many listeners as it inspires. For true fans of doom, however, the one unarguable fact is that ‘mourner portraits’ is a pitch dark album that creates a strong, oppressive atmosphere redolent of failure, hatred and despair over the course of its fifty-eight minute run time.

Opening track ‘empty earth’ perfectly sets the tone with its ravaged riffs and funereal percussion underpinning vocals that are gasped and gurgled out as if with a dying breath. It’s spectacularly bare – as if Samon has stripped his churning emotions down to their bare essence and poured the whole foetid, putrid mass into his primitive riffs and the resulting sense of horror is as palpable as that of Colonel Kurtz’s renegade commander, trapped in a metaphysical prison of his own making. Follow-up track ‘Filth of mankind’ juxtaposes simplistic riffs that weave and coalesce into a melody that is as beautiful as any post-rock work from Mogwai and then shoots echoing samples through its heart, hypnotising the listener with its lengthy, ever-evolving sound. ‘Broken trees’ is similarly expansive, the music ebbing and flowing as it moves between subtle, atmospheric passages into full-blown metallic assaults, the melodies hidden but ever present, always drawing the listener further into Silent Path’s heart of darkness.

Although the majority of the songs are lengthy on the record, ‘Last men, last dreams’ is particularly epic, clocking in at just over seven and a half minutes, and while on one hand the corrosive atmosphere makes those seven minutes last a life time, conversely the music is so endlessly fascinating that it passé sin the blink of an eye – a contradictory state of affairs that will be familiar to anyone who has admired doom or drone over the years. Deeply melancholic and beautifully melodic, it pierces right to the very heart with its open wounds and whispered vocals and it is clear that Silent path have developed the deathly path laid down by Thergothon and improved upon it, developing the songs so that they still bleed atmosphere but maintain a level of melody that is as memorable as it is bleak.

Thus the album delivers upon the promise of its artwork, and heritage. The music is simplistic and yet, for all that the riffs might not be technical, the magic lies within the emotion that underscores the playing. Samples of rain and storms permeate the record (as at the outset of ‘forgotten sounds’), vocals are gargled, screamed and wrenched out in a variety of manners, depending upon the track and the overall feeling is that the record works best as a mood piece, deeply disturbing and atmospheric and necessarily absorbed as a whole and in order. That it is not music for everyone remains undisputed – the production is wilfully grainy and far-removed form the over-polished studio sheen that typifies much of today’s musical output whilst the dank, unutterably nihilistic nature of the music will be, for some, as unbearable as the sound itself. However, within its genre this is an unsung masterpiece. It is devastatingly cold, and inhuman; the music may come from a place of deep, churning emotion, but its result is to leave you frozen, numb, as if a shot of Novocaine has been administered direct to the soul via the scarifying riffs and mesmerising vocals. It is a brave work also, weaving dense melodies into the tapestry of the songs and utilising a number of effects to create a sense of mood that neither lightens nor breaks across the whole of the record’s run time.

Overall this is a work that will appeal to a relatively small section of metal fans, but for those who worship at the altar of funeral doom or atmospheric black metal, it will prove to be a valuable addition to the collection indeed, and for those hardy souls willing to embrace the blackness there are rich rewards to be had indeed.

Reviewed by: Phil

Review from Miasma Magazine

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 16:21:22 +0100

From: Miasma Magazine
Published: November 5, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Finnish review

Islamic countries are known to have been quite strict in terms of cultural liberty or death threats towards artists have always just sananhelinää. Iranian Nu same alias Count De Efrit has been working on this debut album, despite a one-man black metal project they are involved Silent Pathille. The band is not the lord of the first, nor the nationality of not even in this case, the music of no importance, as the Mourner Portraits in itself is quite a good release.

Depressive, melodic and ethereal music dragging out like a cold mist on long-forgotten cemetery. Songs pins and barren soundscapes will counterbalance the background echo the ambience, which take over the whole range of the scene, carrying the thoughts far away from this place and time. Suitable for dull and distant sound world supports the mood created by the disc, which moves up between funeral doom decision such as the slow vaikerruksellaan.

Basically, this is a disc which has been recommended to listen alone and in the dark. Mourner Portraits is a bleak, depressing and distressing, but aesthetically beautiful. Depressive Black Metal otherwise fairly repetitive world of Silent Path is different in a good way and pass the root of lead heavy music perfectly the essence of the consciousness of the listener.

Rating: 9/10

Reviewed by: Markus Mähönen

Review from Ave Noctum

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:18:07 +0100

From: Ave Noctum
Published: November 2, 2012
Original Link

Iran, not the sort of place you would expect to find a black metal band hailing from is it? Looking on Metal Archives out of interest I see that Iran has 47 bands listed. To be honest even with a handful of those having split up that is still more than I expected. Can this be topped? How about S. Korea; 187 bands, Afghanistan does not even have an entry but that is still not really surprising. I guess Iran would definitely be in the top 10 countries in the world least likely to have a burgeoning metal community though and fair play to most of those listed as playing death, black and extreme metal in one form or the other. Two of these bands are the work of Tehran based Count De Efrit aka Saman Nu. Silent Path are releasing their debut album but his other band Evoke Efrits have three as well as various demos and have been going since 2001. I use the word ‘band’ loosely as these are both one man projects, it must be incredibly difficult in such a secretive society working with someone else especially when you are likely to be transgressing all sorts of laws and putting yourself at no end of risk. Evoke Efrits had crossed my path before actually as I picked up the ‘Wraiths Of Forgotten Forest’ demo from 2006 as a random disc in a job lot. It proved to be very limited to 150 copies and despite country of origin had many European andUSAideas amidst its depressive strains, complete with a photo of a cloaked figure in corpse paint standing in the woods on the back.

Silent Path are presented to me as a ‘grittier, darker and much less optimistic project and one that ‘explores humanity for what it is, a disease, a virus’. In doing so this has a theme exploring war and conflict, the booklet includes photos from WWII and the album sampling the radio announcement of Hitler’s death. This is an incredibly depressive album make no mistake about that and at 54 minutes too it is going to do the best it can to suck your very soul out!

‘Empty Earth’ speaks of barren misery, the wind has swept and devastated and all that is left in its wake is misery. It is a bit like ‘The Road’ in musical form maybe. Vocals are croaky and rasping but not indecipherable. A bell tolls calling those who have survived to some sort of mass, but we have all seen The Omega Man have we not? It’s a short intro before we get into ‘Filth Of Mankind’ still at a slow stumbling pace, there is no Nathrakh etched filth here just a despairing one. The off key instrumentation stumbles around and it is impossible not to mention the likes of Xasthur instrumentally but it is the odd vocal stance that sees this in more of a unique place; lurking in the mire are some spoken word samples adding to the ghostly feel of it all.

Musically this does not change a huge amount but various things go on around it atmospherically including dripping water, buzzing flies, full blown rain and the odd scream. The production is suitably dank and things tend to jangle, reverberate and boom out thickly in the mix. Everything is wrapped in a wreath like shroud even when there are unexpected clean vocals lulling (certainly not soaring) around things. ‘Sarabe Aramash’ has an intriguing title and is a well formed slab of depressive melody as far as the guitar and bass sound is concerned, again the vocals make it stand out as you would not expect clean singing (in fact close to chanting) to accompany this. Equally unexpected is the last number ‘Unwritten story’ if you ever wanted to hear the melody of Jingle Bells to depressive piano tones you are in the right place. At least it’s honest (nothing bastard happy about that time of year).

So not the most original sounding album of all times but this is certainly an intriguing one due to its geography and corresponding political climate. I cannot see why any one who does not like Xasthur, Nortt and others of this nature would find much to complain about but do not go playing it if you want some happiness in your life, you won’t find it here.

Rating: 7/10
Reviewed by: Pete Woods

Review from Metal Delirium

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:16:37 +0100

From: Metal Delirium
Published: November 1, 2012
Original Link

Silent Path is a one man metal project. More to the point, a one man black metal project. Those make me nervous. One man metal projects of any kind tend to be the result of one person having so many “great” ideas that they just have to get them out. Some are great, but in a lot of cases the ideas fall short of actual musical ability(see Satanic Tony and Wintercold ).

Silent Path falls somewhere in the middle. There is a lot of potential in Mourner Portraits, but it just isn’t fully realized. The music feels empty. I know some say “less is more,” but that does not apply here. Many of the songs are long and ride only a couple of guitar chords with some sparse drumming and distorted muffled growls and screams to round out the mix. There is a strong sense of atmosphere, mainly in the form of oppressive sadness. It’s biggest downfall is the lack of any real substance. It gets so boring about halfway through that I just get the urge to listen to something else. I have the feeling that is what most people will do when presented with this listening experience. It’s a respectable effort, but it just doesn’t do anything, well, at all, really

Rating: 5.5/10
Reviewed by: Justin Angel