Debemur Morti Productions

Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions Review

Selbst – Despondency Chord Progressions Review

By Thus Spoke on April 19, 2024 in Reviews, Black Metal, 56 comments

“In the blurred-boundary world of black metal, Selbst is quite special. Possessing neither the cold grit, folk-leaning whimsicality, or vivacious bombast of European and Northern American variants, the Latin American influence instead lends their sound a lilting, layered musicality. It’s been clear from the project’s beginning that this music is both incredibly personal and a way of exploring the darker and more devastating of shared human experiences. This is more true than ever with third LP Despondency Chord Progressions.” Plucking heartstrings darkly.

Pestilength – Solar Clorex Review

Pestilength – Solar Clorex Review

By Dear Hollow on February 12, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, 23 comments

“Last we met the secretive Basque duo Pestilength, they had released their second full-length Basom Gryphos, an album that was appropriately slimy and punishing but fell by the wayside due to its scattershot compositions and unashamed Portal worship. Its potential was there, lurking beneath the surface like eldritch grandiosity yet to be awoken, but the right combination of incantations and blasphemies were needed to truly wreak havoc on mankind. In many ways, what Pestilength does is braver than dissodeath acts of similar ilk, refusing to shroud its riffs in murk or atmosphere and letting the chord progressions do the talking – putting added pressure on the string attack.” Clorexing the murk.

Imperial Crystalline Entombment – Ancient Glacial Resurgence Review

Imperial Crystalline Entombment – Ancient Glacial Resurgence Review

By Kenstrosity on August 29, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 32 comments

“In 2004, Imperial Crystalline Entombment unleashed their awesome debut record Apocalyptic End in White, which kicks off with a furious chant, “WE ARE. FUCKIN’. IIIIIIIICCCEEEEE!!!” Nothing can beat a line like that as the first lyric on an extreme metal album. Glorious and charming in equal measure, this war cry defines the cave-brained, explosive fun which characterizes the Maryland-based quartet’s particular brand of ravenous, chilly black metal. Fast forward to today, nineteen years later, and I.C.E. prepare their sophomore burst of icy blizzardry.” A new ice rage.

Aara – Triade III: Nyx Review

Aara – Triade III: Nyx Review

By Dear Hollow on April 8, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 44 comments

“There’s a lot of pressure going into Triade III: Nyx, after two installments of killer black metal preceding it. I became a believer, a traveler in their gas-lit and cobblestone Victorian world, with second installment of their trilogy, 2022’s Triade II: Hemera. A series established upon the 1820 novel Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin, it follows the titular Melmoth as his deal with the devil comes to a bitter conclusion: with the death of his lover in the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. Doomed to long life, a gift originally too good to be true, Melmoth cannot save himself nor his lover or child. Nyx, like the goddess of night of its namesake, is a more morose, darker, and more devastating beast compared to its predecessors.” Immortal wounds.

Dødsengel – Bab Al On Review

Dødsengel – Bab Al On Review

By Thus Spoke on December 15, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, 22 comments

“Just in case you’re not familiar with left-hand-path magic, I’ll introduce the subject of Dødsengel’s Bab Al On. Babalon is a Thelemic goddess embodying both female sexuality and motherhood. Variously depicted as an abstract archetype of licentious liberation, a ‘sacred whore’ astride the demonic Great Beast, and a deity of incarnation and destruction, she essentially stands against the patriarchal ideal of order in her chaotic physicality. Dødsengel dedicate their fifth full-length to this (un)holy mother, with an iteration of their already obscure and restless black metal as strange as it is compelling.” Mommy issues.

The Lovecraft Sextet – Miserere Review

The Lovecraft Sextet – Miserere Review

By Dear Hollow on October 26, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Doom Metal, Drone, 14 comments

“No one does music like Jason Köhnen. His projects like Mansur, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, and Bong-Ra constantly push boundaries, and while my reception to his work has been largely mixed, The Lovecraft Sextet has stuck. Debut In Memoriam was a unique and visceral experience, somehow weaponizing dark ambient, black metal, jazz, and opera into six tracks with three disparate but compatible palettes.” Sax and tentacles.

Hexis – Aeternum Review

Hexis – Aeternum Review

By Dear Hollow on August 31, 2022 in Reviews, Black Metal, Hardcore, Post-Metal, Sludge Metal, 16 comments

“While Hexis undoubtedly draws much comparison to the blackened hardcore/sludge of Celeste, Oathbreaker, The Secret, and even Amenra, there’s a liturgical element about them. Although its lyrics draw from the well of blasphemy and trod the well-worn path of nihilism, pitch-black reverence settles like cancer in the blood.” Hex marks the sore spot.

Cailleach Calling – Dreams of Fragmentation

Cailleach Calling – Dreams of Fragmentation

By Twelve on March 12, 2022 in Reviews, Atmospheric Black Metal, 12 comments

“When an experienced musician, or musicians, begins a new project, expectation is a tricky part of the equation. After all, a new project is a new project, with all the bumps, twists, and booby traps associated with starting something new, regardless of the experience of its creator. I muse on this because Dreams of Fragmentation, our super-atmospheric black metal album for the day, is the debut full-length for Cailleach Calling, which itself is formed of Tony Thomas and Chelsea Murphy of Dawn of Ouroboros, whose debut full-length floored the Master of Muppets and left a lasting impression on a good number of you, alongside Yurii Kononov, formerly of White Ward.” Great expectations and fragments of dreams.