Metal Underground.com

Low budget black metal bands that self-release their albums have become a dime a dozen now that nearly anyone can produce a decent sounding album without major label support. Although Italy’s Laetitia In Holocaust has been a member of the underground metal ranks for nearly a decade, “The Tortoise Boat” is their first contribution of a full-length album to the scene. Although it’s clearly a “do it yourself” sort of album, the disc does have a distinct atmosphere that makes it stand out from the hordes of similar releases.

Laetitia In Holocaust has such a big focus on atmosphere and mood, even to the frequent exclusion of the heaviness, that the album borderlines on dark wave instead of full black metal. All six tracks use stilted guitar and bass work to create a darkly psychedelic and mildly disorienting sound. Any given vocal line is as likely to be a harsh whisper as a deep growl, and they are all delivered in short bursts that come out of nowhere and then fade away. The extreme vocals also have a seriously aggressive edge to them which lets the hate shine through exceptionally well. They may not have a huge range, but they do work with the style of music.

The main problem on “The Tortoise Boat” is how similar each song sounds. By the end of the second track the guitar riffs and bass lines have enough recurring similarities to provide a good flow. By the end of the third track the album becomes just flat out repetitive. While an album should be tied together into a cohesive whole by using similar themes, it shouldn’t ever reach the point where any given song is nearly indistinguishable from any other. A smaller gripe is the unfortunately placed slurping sound towards the middle of “Descent.” It’s not really clear how that particular sound effect was supposed to work with the music and be taken seriously.

A few breaks in the repetition occur to prevent the album from completely nose diving. “Hissing Through the Veins of the Gods” drops the heavier aspects all together and instead changes into acoustic guitar mode. The song uses almost exclusively swirling whispers and gothic clean vocals instead of growls, which is a little cheesy, but it’s not bad enough to ruin the track. Closing track “Immanence and Illusion” features a few small breaks from then norm as well, such as creepy sound effects that bring to mind wind rustling through an underground crypt.

“The Tortoise Boat” does actually sound quite a bit better than the standard solo/duo black metal act recorded on a shoestring budget. The bass is readily audible almost all of the time, and the guitars have a melody that frequently gets ignored or actively snubbed by many similar acts. Anyone interested in atmospheric underground music, or who actively looks for black metal acts where the musicians refer to themselves by single letter initials to be more mysterious, should give the album a shot.