David Napier returns with part two of his black metal solo project TIMŌRĀTUS, continuing the story of Kafla Selaro and the struggles of life in the Dark Ages when loss was great in the times of the Black Plague.
For those wondering, TIMŌRĀTUS means full of reverence toward God, devout, describing David Napier’s goal of bringing “honor and glory to our savior Jesus Christ”. The final project as a whole will consist of four ep’s , with Black being the first one released and now Death as the second release. As In the first ep Black, the guitars and vocals overwhelm the other instruments through most of the songs, drums and bass guitar are noticeably decreased in the overall mix, which does detract from the songs.
“Confrontation of the End” opens this ep and describes the main character’s grief and feelings of abandonment over the loss of loved ones. Vocals are again mostly a spoken black metal style veering more toward a deeper growl. At times it really challenge to hear the drums at all and they along with the bass sort of rumble in the background, very much overwhelmed by the guitars.
Knowing the overall story and theme, it’s somewhat easy to see where “No One Left” will be heading in terms of subject matter in the overall narrative. I will say that this is dark material to say the least and fits well within the genre. This project will make for an overall interesting listen when completed and releasing it in small doses as individual ep’s will keep the interest level high as I think an entire album might be a bit overwhelming for the listener.
Rating: 6/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist:
1. Confrontation of the End
2. No One Left
Band Members:
David Napier – all instruments, vocals
Albums:
“Black” EP (2014) [review]
“Death” (2014)
Record Label: Independent, Nov. 2014
https://soundcloud.com/timoratus/sets/death-ep