Must. Resist. Urge. To compare. To Converge. True, Centuries’ Southern Lord debut is a relentless barrage of detonated emotional and sonic intensity, constantly on the verge of collapse and disintegration into chaos. It might testify for a lot of pain, but it is definitely beautiful to listen to.
Therefore, it’s not fair to swiftly tag Taedium Vitae ‘for fans of Converge’, which usually automatically means said band is inferior to the masters of sophisticated black hardcore art. Put it this way, Centuries have just started, and Taedium Vitae is already up there with, say, When Forever Comes Crashing.
Just listen to the way the storming Gelu segues into the devastating instrumental, Egelidus. Such a command of dynamics within such a maelstrom of a million broken souls all screaming at once is admirable. So, forget Converge. Compare Centuries to underrated French noisecorists Comity instead. For Taedium… manages to push the envelope just this little bit further into the abyss the same way Comity did when their debut came out in 2002.
