LP Review: "Mors Secunda" by Terra

Mors Secunda

The United States, the country of my birth and residence, is at the same time full of wide open spaces and populations stacks where people are literally on top of each other.

In my state, Missouri, there are just over six million of us, but in the St. Louis Metro area alone, there are nearly three million of us.

That leaves some pretty large swaths of land where there is no one. Recently, we went to a wedding in out state Missouri and on our way there, we stared at a goodly amount of nothing.

Essentially, there are two wholly opposite things existing in the same space. In parts of Missouri, like the rest of the United States, we have people on top of people on top of people and in others, there is nothing. So vast, so empty, and so normal.

Terra's music is wide open expanse of pain, misery, and redemption.

Following in the progressive vein of bands like Dark Buddha Rising and Agusa, Terra has only written two songs for this album, but it's not an EP by any stretch.

The two tracks both clock in around twenty minutes and simply take the listener on a trip.

The chords are relentlessly strummed sounding more like a drum circle than a guitar.

It wasn't for a great many minutes that the vocals even began.

Like much prog rock, this album could have been wholly instrumental.

From beginning to end, Terra shows us their anger and fear. I feel that at the end of the album, the protagonist of Mors Secunda finally finds safe refuge. Even Black Metal can be a narrative.

Follow this one from the beginning to the end. It's well worth it.

This is the kind of album that's very difficult to sum up into words. It's full of excitement, terror, and hope. Even when it feels empty, it's filling you.

Release: 12/9/16
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Code666
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