ANCIENT VVISDOM

Let's get this straight. Austin's ANCIENT VVISDOM contributed one half of a split with CHARLES MANSON, includes alumni of hardcore head splitters INTEGRITY and IRON AGE, and their style of acoustic-driven music has been called death rock through which Lucifer's praises are sung. That's an interesting laundry list to pique's one interest. The music is interesting as well, not to mention memorable. Change of pace anyone?

"A Godlike Inferno" is a laid back album, but "soft" it is not. The darkness that permeates the music, the low-vocal tones, and the lyrical content make ANCIENT VVISDOM anything but an AMERICA tribute band. Dubbing it gothic rock would not get you laughed out of the room; it's just a bit too generic. More often you might be reminded of the acoustic, devil blues moments of DANZIG. Otherwise, the sound is not easy to pigeonhole. Call it neo-folk, dark rock, or death rock, but it'll only take the first couple of cuts — "Alter Reality" and "The Opposition" — to realize that ANCIENT VVISDOM are more about writing catchy melodies than creating chilling atmospheres for the shadow lurkers, although they do a fine job with the latter as well.

Smart songwriting does make the minimalist method go a long way. So do the electronic effects, the use of standup bass, and Nathan Opposition's chillingly emotive vocals. A harmony vocal here ("Necessary Evil"),a bluesy cadence there ("Devil Brain"),or a guitar solo around the corner ("Lost Civilization"); whatever the case, the attention to nuance and accent is designed for maximum memory retention. Speaking of which, along with "Alter Reality", the tune you'll find following you around the house long after you've stopped listening is "World of Flesh", and quite honestly the more you listen the more you may find it to be the most memorable one of the batch. Something about that one makes its way into the bloodstream. The only cut that may strike the listener as a tad askew — though not in a distasteful way — is "Children of the Wasteland", if only because of the vaguely 90s alt-rock flavor.

"A Godlike Inferno" is not intended to rock your world; only to blacken it. The big positive here is that songwriting never takes a backseat to obsidian aura. An album for a particular mood perhaps, but nonetheless one filled with songs of dark folk and bleak rock that hooks and a vibe that is, for lack of a better word, cool. By the way, the "vvisdom" in ANCIENT WISDOM is pronounced "wisdom." That's pretty important too.