THE ICHNEUMON METHOD (AND LESS WELCOME TECHNIQUES)

"The Ichneumon Method (And Less Welcome Techniques)" is the debut full-length studio album by UK experimental/industrial black metal act The Axis of Perdition (or actually only Axis of Perdition at this point as they first added the "The" in 2004.). The album was released through Rage of Achilles in April 2003.

The music on the album is twisted, experimental and industrial tinged black metal. The soundscape is rather chaotic with programmed drums, creepy sound effects, various horror/sci-fi movie samples (among others there are samples from "The Matrix", "Event Horizon", "Twilight Zone" and "Silent Hill"), twisted dissonant guitar riffing and vocals right out of the lunatic asylum. Raspy, heavily distorted and effect laden whispering, talking and screaming. These vocals are deeply disturbing. The music create a creepy and uneasy feeling and every minute I expect a lurking, grotesque and disfigured monster to appear. The Axis of Perdition are really succesful at creating those eerie atmospheres. In that respect they remind me of Gnaw Their Tongues and their eerie, tortured and droning soundscapes. The Axis of Perdition generally play a much faster varity of music though so the comparison is only in regards to the dark atmosphere. Some will probably wrinkle their nose when they hear the words drum programming, but it works very well within the concept of this album and personally I don´t miss a "real" drummer.

The raw and unpolished sound production works pretty well with the equally raw and unpolished music but to call it professional wouldn´t be completely true. The sound is a bit thin and as far as I can hear there´s no bass in the music which is a thing I miss.

Overall "The Ichneumon Method (And Less Welcome Techniques)" is an extremely intriguing debut release by The Axis of Perdition and if the sound production had been a bit more professional I would have given a full 4 star (80%) rating. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is very well deserved though. Fans of Control Human Delete, Dødheimsgard, Void, Abigor (second-era) and other acts of the experimental/industrial black metal ilk should definitely check this one out. The album is not as well produced as the best output of the above mentioned acts but it´s generally a bit more twisted and sick.