With their second album, released in 2014, the Czech Et Moriemur proved to be one of the most interesting European realities in the gothic death doom sphere; the re-release of the work on vinyl, curated by the historical Italian label Minotauro Records, provides an opportunity to rediscover the work. Sea Of Trees, opening track of Ex Nihilo In Nihilum, immediately shows what (good) dough ours are made of, being a song that uses a rather catchy refrain and that, in some ways, could be misleading because the rest of the disc, while remaining always quite enjoyable, is certainly less immediate. The band from Prague drinks from sources common to anyone who engages in this genre, so My Dying Bride and Saturnus are the two main references that, however, Et Moriemur do not ape but use as a starting point to graft their vein decadent, poetic and provided with sufficient dose of personality. From the Danish masters are drawn, in addition to the poignant guitar melodies, even and especially the passages recited based on acoustic or piano, while the influence of the band of Stainthorpe resides in particular in the attitude romantically heartfelt, which prevails over what, by others, is expressed through sounds full of pain and despair. Ex Nihilo In Nihilum never loses, therefore, its strong melodic connotation and is a work that grows with each listening, a symptom of an undoubted compositional depth, well supported by the excellent work of the single. In addition to the magnificent Liebeslied, it’s especially the two longest tracks of the lot, Nihil and Black Mountain, that provide the real measure of the value of the Czech band, good at introducing several changes of pace and mood that can make compelling even tracks like these of substantial duration, while still moving within a leaden gothic death and quiet rhythms. An excellent test this one by Et Moriemur, a band that has, in my opinion, further margins of improvement: in particular, a gradual release from their stylistic models could bring them in the near future to levels very close to the top of the genre; already so, however, we can talk about a well-established reality and of absolute importance.

2014 – Solitude Productions 2016 – Minotauro Records