Thy Catafalque w/ Rïcïnn | The Underworld, London 15/09/2022 | Live Review

Rïcïnn

This night was the first night that Thy Catafalque marched on to our shores and took up their arms to play in the UK. This lovechild of Hungarian, Tamás Kátai, can be a strange listen, much alike bands such as Ulver, Sigh or Ihsahn‘s many projects to name a few. Rooted in Black Metal, bathed in Folk and given an experimental and electronic edge, Thy Catafalque have earned the moniqer of Avant-Garde Metal. Equipping the experimental artist Rïcïnn; brainchild of Laure Le Prunenec of Igorrr, Öxxö Xööx and Corpo-Mente fame; Thy Catafalque takes a natural step in casting their music upon the crowds of the London Underworld.

 

What first strikes was the relative emptiness of the venue, whether it be recent events or the lack of familiarity with both bands is hard to say, being that Thy Catafalque hasn’t toured England before and Rïcïnn is a somewhat newcomer on the scene. Rïcïnn also has a hard spot to fill, being both the first band on of the night and playing music that doesn’t easily hit Metal crowds. It was hauntingly beautiful, but doesn’t carry the same brutal power that Thy Catafalque hit, nor one would expect for Rïcïnn‘s audience – one would be forgiven to think that they’d be at home with more popy artists.

 

The sheer gravitas of Laure Le Prunenec‘s voice was what deadened the crowds to be transfixed by their experimental and atmospheric music. Whilst she took the stage with such spectre-like glee, her counterpart sat with his guitar like a corpse firing out the powerful songs. Their energy, dynamism and professional musicianship make them a hard band to argue with but it’s an unfortunate tough act to swallow. Songs could have gone down better than they did and for all the excitement and performance charisma, Rïcïnn fall slightly lower than they should within the smokey and pitch black Underworld walls.

Score: 7/10

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Rïcïnn

Thy Catafalque

Now another thing to take note of with the Underworld is that it isn’t a huge venue, whilst Thy Catafalque are a huge band. Despite Tamás Kátai being at the centre of the band, Thy Catafalque employs a large array of musicians including 4 singers! Thy Catafalque overpowered the stage with the many members crowding it to blast out their music, likewise the crowd filled managed to fill the space before them. The group have an obvious chemistry, which comes across charismatically as their fun energy burst into their set. Notably this time the drums and guitars are a lot more louder, heavier and distorted. They came to the stage with the raw energy expected of Black Metal. Starting with a powerful and polished thud-like tone, their atmosphere is somewhat robbed by the lack of prominent keys and electronic backings within their music.

They played a tight and ferocious assault, leaning their setlist into something a lot more akin to the rough Black Metal you’d expect from bands like Drudkh or Winterfylleth. Starting with earlier works like ‘Fekete Mezők’ helped to ground them within their roots, but the unfortunate quietness of the synthesizers meant we lost a lot of the dynamic feel to their songs, which are generally quite long anyway. So despite the huge energy they brought to start things out, it was beginning to wane by the time that later songs broke this mould by putting these elements at the forefront of the sound: ‘Móló’, ‘Embersólyom’ (a powerful Kaláka cover) and ‘Töltés’. This is, however, a much needed and fantastic shift in their set that brings forth their strengths as a band. For all their power as an extreme metal act, they are known for the more experimental elements.

‘Szarvas’ forms a solid energetic climactic role in their set, kicking it back to brutal Metal, whilst also being a relative crowd pleaser. What strikes is the ability for Thy Catafalque to easily blend styles into a set, even if they did lean towards a heavier side, it still easily weaves from different styles in a way that isn’t jarring for the audience. They performed with an easy excitement and though a little cramped on stage, they rotated members in a way that felt like several encores throughout the night. It plays with the stage and excitement. Being accomplished musicians and heavily experimental means that they aren’t lightly a band to ignore. Their Folk influences aren’t the easiest thing to pick out from the set but it’s hammered in with the bookend of ‘Fehérvasárnap’. Tamás Kátai sings an atmospheric closer that wraps up the more Hungarian moments of the night. Something that started so completely Black Metal finishes by letting the Hungarian Folk shine through.