Noctem have been making blasting unpleasantness since 2001. In that time the five piece have made five albums before Credo Certe Ne Cras. Their debut album Divinity was released in 2009, two years later came Oblivion, then in 2014 Noctem released their third album Exilium, and after another two year wait 2016 brought us Haenesis. In 2019 Noctem broke with their tradition of one word album titles by releasing The Black Consecration. Noctem is made up of Beleth on vocals, Varu on bass, Voor on drums, Moss on guitar and Tobal on guitar.
Noctem’s style is a mix of fairly brutal death metal and equally extreme black metal the exact balance of death metal to black metal changes from song to song. There are some similarities in sound with Belphegor, Behemoth, or Blaze Of Perdition but Noctem definitely have an original sound all their own. One of the stand out elements in Noctem’s sound are blast beats with almost ridiculously fast drumming, if you want an album to batter the living crap out of you, then Noctem are a band for you.
Sovereign Providence is a good example of this; the song drops us straight into savage blasting with nasty tremolo picked riffs and harsh vocals, it feels very aggressive and dramatic. The song does have a couple of slow sections with some nicely dissonant guitars and a very memorable tremolo picked melody, this melody is then repeated over some very fast blasting at the end of the song. Ceremonial Miasma is another blastathon, but this time the riffs have more of a death metal feel to then. The song is short and savage, with a slow section right at the end so we can get our breath back.
Noctem are also very good at dissonance. The song The Pale Moon Rite has a beautifully dissonant, wailing guitar over the slower parts of the song, there are some blast beats and very fast riffs, but it’s mainly about the slow and inharmonious. Another place where Noctem slow things down is on the track Chalice Of Turpitud, which features some very slow and heavy riffs. The song is also packed with melody (I was surprised to find so much melody on such a brutal album, but melody tempers extremity very well), one deeply hummable melody in particular returns several times, so it really worms its way into your head.
Title track Credo Certe Ne Cras is an interesting song. It opens with a voice chanting before dropping the audience straight into some taut death metal style blasting, the track then slows a little but gets more aggressive. The song then slows and becomes much more minimal, before dropping us back into a mid-paced blast beat that has some really great tremolo picked riffs over the top that feel very aggressive. The song briefly gets more expansive before it comes to its end.
Credo Certe Ne Cras is a great piece of black/death metal. The extremity is right up there with some of the most brutal bands, but it’s also packed with melody and hummable tunes. The level of blasting on it did make it feel a little impenetrable on the first couple of listens, but once I got to know it a little better, it opened up and I found a very memorable album. Despite the savagery, this is a very well balanced album the fast and frenetic material is tempered by the slow and dissonant, and the memorable melodies tie the whole thing together very well. Highly recommended. 8/10
Psychonaut - Violate Consensus Reality (Pelagic Records) [Richard Oliver]
Psychonaut are a band that I have seen mentioned before but never checked out until now and from the music on Violate Consensus Reality seem to be a band comprised of three distinct elements - psychedelic melodic sludge metal, experimental and progressive sounds and bone crushingly dense and heavy post-metal. The three elements are combined together in fantastic style across the eight songs which make up Violate Consensus Reality.
Violate Consensus Reality is the second album from Belgian progressive/post-metal outfit Psychonaut. The band formed in Antwerp in 2013 and turned heads with their debut album Unfold The God Man in 2018. With their new album heads are certainly going to be turned once again.
Psychonaut are a band that I have seen mentioned before but never checked out until now and from the music on Violate Consensus Reality seem to be a band comprised of three distinct elements - psychedelic melodic sludge metal, experimental and progressive sounds and bone crushingly dense and heavy post-metal. The three elements are combined together in fantastic style across the eight songs which make up Violate Consensus Reality.
The first few songs mix sludgy riffs, light airy melodies, harsh screams and complex songwriting which is best realised in a song such as All Your Gods Have Gone but it is in the middle of the album where things get really interesting and the progressive and avant-garde leanings of the band come to the fore such as in the stunning title track which features guest vocals from both Amenra's Colin H. van Eeckhout and Brutus' Stefanie Mannaerts who both add an extra dimension to this gorgeous composition. Another stand out is the mesmerising and atmospheric Hope which is the albums most melodic, calm and introspective moment and it sounds absolutely beautiful.
The album finishes off with its most crushingly heavy song A Pacifist’s Guide To Violence with contains some of the heaviest riffing on the album before Violate Consensus Reality closes with the longest song on the album Towards The Edge which has all the best elements of the album mixed together in one massive epic.
Violate Consensus Reality is definitely an album that grew on me as it progressed with the mid section of the album being especially good. Psychonaut have a cool sound which mixes together elements of bands together such as Mastodon, Baroness, The Ocean and Cult Of Luna and manages to be crushingly heavy and deftly melodic in equal measure. I found the start of the album a little forgettable but once it got going it was damn good stuff. 7/10
Insonika - Pithos (Self Released) [Quinn Mattfeld]
If Insonika were a band of identical calibre in a different genre, say, grindcore or sludge they'd probably be an outstanding example of promise and vision among their peers but as the Swedish 4-piece has chosen stoner doom to be the vehicle for their unique metal proclivities, Insonika isn't quite outstanding... but they are standing. In a subgenre overstuffed with veteran acts like Electric Wizard and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats as well as truly exceptional upstarts like Mother Iron Horse and Telekinetic Yeti, it's more than likely that Insonika will be lost in the volume, but I wouldn't say that they're doomed…
Faustian - Faustian (Black Lion Records) [GC]
Violate Consensus Reality is definitely an album that grew on me as it progressed with the mid section of the album being especially good. Psychonaut have a cool sound which mixes together elements of bands together such as Mastodon, Baroness, The Ocean and Cult Of Luna and manages to be crushingly heavy and deftly melodic in equal measure. I found the start of the album a little forgettable but once it got going it was damn good stuff. 7/10
Insonika - Pithos (Self Released) [Quinn Mattfeld]
If Insonika were a band of identical calibre in a different genre, say, grindcore or sludge they'd probably be an outstanding example of promise and vision among their peers but as the Swedish 4-piece has chosen stoner doom to be the vehicle for their unique metal proclivities, Insonika isn't quite outstanding... but they are standing. In a subgenre overstuffed with veteran acts like Electric Wizard and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats as well as truly exceptional upstarts like Mother Iron Horse and Telekinetic Yeti, it's more than likely that Insonika will be lost in the volume, but I wouldn't say that they're doomed…
Pithos begins dramatically and with aplomb, demonstrating the band's mastery of blending the rhythmic and the melodic, followed by the title track which takes a page from the Khemmis playbook including some death metal-inspired vocals that soon transforms into a rhythmic dirge which, unfortunately doesn't go much of anywhere. It just sort of continues. And herein lies the rub.
Throughout the album, Insonika falls into a series of seemingly habitual cadences, that dominate the record's sound. Examples abound including Monsters In My Head, Warmongers, and the closing track, Dunes Of War. The Plague stands out as a great example of the band taking an opportunity to allow the rhythmic to become something more. The central riff of the song winds its way through the track which builds to a climactic solo only to collapse back into that singular, driving riff which demands heads be banged and horns be thrown.
If Insonika can push themselves to find that next level of variety and creativity going forward, they have a real chance to turn "still standing" into "outstanding" with subsequent releases. Pithos is not a mediocre album. It's a very good album but in 2022, stoner doom, as a whole, is a subgenre that consistently goes beyond "very good" and frequently offers the sublime. I think Insonika can get there, but I don't think they are there yet. My only real complaint about the record is the album art, which I would like to imagine is some kind of attempt at humour but as this is a Swedish band, it's likely not.7/10
Faustian - Faustian (Black Lion Records) [GC]
Today’s review is from Black Lion Records blackened death metal trio Faustian and it’s their self-titled debut EP. Threshold is meant to set the mood for the entire EP before a note is played and is a brooding and lurching introduction before its all systems go with Birth Of Apparitions which is a lovely mix of savage death metal technicality and atmospheric black metal rawness that has just the right amount of nastiness to really spike the interest and create a bruising and chaotic opening.
Communion With Shadows brings in another frenzied dose of urgent riffs from the black metal playbook that still has enough of the body and feel of a death metal track so as not to lose its way and just like that it is onto final track Void Sight which is a lumbering brute of a song and really goes all out black metal with drummer Max Kimmons really shinning here and the dual vocal back and forth of guitarist Dallas Smith and bassist Troy Bennet is also the best it has been so far which all finishes us off on a gloriously chaotic and brutal diamond.
It’s worth noting before my final score that this is a concept EP and that the word ‘concept’ would usually fill me with dread as it usually ends up in some overblown and boring cosmic story that’s just generally a steaming load, however the way the music ebbs and flows and drags you along you find yourself intrigued about the subject matter which is the story of the collapse of a persons humanity and the destruction of oneself and becoming and evil apparition, its done beautifully and makes me think that given more time and experience they could definitely do a lot more concepts and make them really interesting.
So, as an EP I really enjoyed what I have heard from Faustian, and the main frustration was that there just wasn’t enough of it to listen to! Of course, this is just a minor problem as you can tell that with time, they have the potential to create some truly special music, and this is most definitely just the beginning of what is to come. 7/10
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