Maïeutiste – Veritas (Review)

This is the second album from Maïeutiste, a French Black Metal band.

2015’s Maïeutiste was a record that impressed. Full of wide-ranging content and engaging blackened exploration, it was an album of fire and mystery. Veritas continues the theme developed in the band’s earlier work, only to refine it further.

Delivering the listener the type of material that is instantly engaging, while also bringing them back for repeat listens with depth of substance and songwriting, Veritas contains many gems to be discovered and savoured.

Once again, Maïeutiste root their music in the darkest of black metals, but then expand on this with a variety of styles. Progressive, doom, avant-garde, and post-black metal elements are all mixed together with skill, while acoustic, jazz, folk, ambient, melodic, and orchestral accoutrements are scattered around wherever the band deem it necessary. This is music that has a lot of component parts, but the band fuse them all together with talent and a firm eye on the bigger picture.

Maïeutiste have both streamlined their work and expanded upon it. When compared to their debut album there are five less tracks, but one of them is a 15-minute monster. The band’s songwriting is exploratory and adventurous, while still allowing the core of a song to naturally evolve and flow. I’d characterise Veritas as both more ambitious and more focused than the band’s first album, and it benefits from these structural changes.

On Veritas Maïeutiste sound more polished, professional, and well-developed than ever, making for a journey that is as engrossing as it is enjoyable. Veritas is a compelling and rewarding listen, and I suggest you check out what it has to offer.