Band:	Massen
Album:	Gentle Brutality
Style:	Pagan black metal
Release date:	August 2023

01. Energy System
02. Corps De Ballet
03. Disgusted
04. Together Alone
05. Askoma (Sorethroat)
06. Throwing The Stones
07. Dym Idzie (Smoke Is Going To The Sky)
08. Our Melody Is Not Dead

‘Gentle brutality’ is quite a fitting description for a whole range of metal sub-genres that equally feature fervent extremity and touching beauty. The band that has made Gentle Brutality, Massen, incorporate elements from a few of these sub-genres.

Once going by the name Massenhinrichtung, Belarussian-born/Berlin-based six-piece Massen rebranded themselves in 2020 upon joining Apostasy Records. While the name change seems to have been triggered at least partially due to joining this label, there was a notable stylistic divide between Massenhinrichtung and 2021’s Contraesthetic, their debut under their new name. The group started off as a pagan-tinged black metal group, but while their releases under the old moniker exhibited a certain degree of refinement and evolution towards a less raw and more melody-conscious sound, Contraesthetic represented a significant stylistic reconfiguration, one that has been furthered on Gentle Brutality.

Contraesthetic was nominated in meloblack in the 2021 Metal Storm Awards; this partially reflected their updated sound, but there were also folk, melodeath and prog elements on the record, and the now-prominent role of vocalist/violinist Karalina Nasko really shaped the band’s sound when compared with her Massenhinrichtung debut on Апошняя Птушка Надзеi (The Last Bird Of Hope). Gentle Brutality takes things further; there are substantial black metal remnants still present, which can be encountered as early as the first minute of opening track “Energy System” with a sharp-edged blasting assault. Black metal is also present to varying degrees in melodic and even non-melodic forms on the likes of “Disgusted” and “Our Melody Is Not Dead”, but the majority of the album is detached from this genre.

In its place, one can encounter melodeath, which takes over not long after that initial blackened outburst on “Energy System” to add a touch of melancholia. Additionally, there are outbursts of more straight aggressive death metal (see the opening of “Corps De Ballet” for an example), while the regularly full-pelt drumming also takes a more punky form in moments, such as in parts of “Our Melody Is Not Dead”. At the other end of the spectrum, the melody from the violin and clean vocals adds regular brightness to the record; at times, it feels somewhat folk-influenced, particularly in the latter stages of album highlight “Disgusted”, while “Dym Idzie (Smoke Is Going To The Sky)” has the kind of delicate aura that Heretoir are capable of. Massen also dial down the intensity on “Together Alone”, which features a lot of spacious clean tones filling out the background behind Nasko’s tender singing.

In terms of reference points for newcomers, the black metal-tinged dual-vocal plus violin combo has a touch of A Forest Of Stars to it, although Massen are less expansive and esoteric. “Throwing Of Stones”, with its rich textures and mixture of extreme and melodic riffs, reminds me somewhat of In Vain. Also, while the lyrics are in Belarussian, there’s a certain something to the dramatic closing minutes of “Disgusted” that makes me feel that perhaps it could fit into an Orphaned Land song. While Massen are perhaps less overtly prog than those two bands, some of the more complex song structures, such as on “Energy System” and “Askoma (Sorethroat)” (which is also notable for its industrial electronic introduction) do indicate a prog-metal influence on the group.

Gentle Brutality is a solid evolution from the group’s debut, which was already an advancement on what came before; the apparent contradiction in the album title is justified by the range of intensities explored across this record, and if Massen continue to be this adventurous going forward, who knows what they may be able to accomplish.