By Monk
Rarely have I thought that, an entire lifetime after gaining an A level in classical history, I would ever have to dig out my well-thumbed, almost disintegrating 50-year old Penguin Classics edition of Tacitus in order to discuss the merits of a heavy metal album; but time has a weird way of turning its wheel back on itself, and so here we are… cogitating upon the most turbulent year in the annals of the empire once known as Rome and this musical recreation and recollection some two millennia later.
For the past quarter of a century, Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Ianoco has marched relentlessly through the storied mythos of what was once the singular most powerful force on the planet. Having previously explored the exploits of two of the empire’s most notorious tyrants, Caligula and Nero, it is perhaps logical that he should turn his attention to a period which saw the megalith almost tear itself apart, with blood running through the streets of an imperious and seemingly invincible city state more freely than wine from its nearby vineyards.
After its triumphant opening declaration, ‘Galba’ is suitably claustrophobic, its “four walls” closing in around you with the crushing power the reluctant regnant must have felt during his brief reign, it’s almost overpowering weight counterpointed at the end by a suitably ironic interjection of strings before climaxing with the force which its subject must have felt in his execution by his successor. Otho, the most short-lived of the four emperors who claimed the gilded laurel in AD69, is represented by an even more claustrophobic and oppressing atmosphere, as the EP descends into its deepest and darkest moments, embroiling itself in a mire of intrigue and collusion as its winding riff leads us down the staircase of the even more intense proceedings to come.
Like its subject, ‘Vitellius’ starts with the bright acclamation of an incoming force for good, its vibrancy reflecting the possibility of a new dawn. However, it quickly and inevitably descends into a dark storm of malcontent and impending doom, its thick broiling riff brooding and cataclysmic, as well as cathartic. The all-to-brief piano soliloquy close to the end is unexpected but provides a beautiful interlude to the brutality that surrounds it, accentuating the ultimate tragedy of the storyline.
Closer ‘Vespasian’ is suitably triumphant. Its dense sense of magnificent intent is as emphatic as its subject’s intent to take the reins, the introduction of female operatics adding a delicacy of touch which again belies the brutality of the subject matter, which this EP addresses in equally suitably brief and tempestuously tumultuous style.
Overall, a majestic offering which captures the tumult and turmoil of the year which it recalls in emphatic style. Now, time to replace that copy of Tacitus methinks…
- ‘Year Of The Four Emperors‘ is released on Friday (10 January).
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