Secretum Secretorum

Some BM band names look so obvious that the wonder about them is that they were never used before - in the case of Ancient Moon, before 2015 when that band released its debut recording "Vvltvre". At present not much is known about this band apart from it being a group of musicians from Belgium, France and Switzerland. Similar can be said for the other band sharing space on "Secretum Secretorum": Prosternatur is a European-based project whose members seem to prefer the black veil of anonymity, quite appropriate in my view for a band delving into the occult for inspiration. Being obscure can be a double-edged sword though: while being underground adds to an occult-inspired BM band's mystique, it sure doesn't help spread the band's music very widely. For both bands, a split release can make their music a bit more accessible to underground BM fans while it preserves a distance from the wrong kind of popularity for both acts while they may still be fairly new.

Ancient Moon's only contribution to the split is a long, hypnotic BM ambient piece, "Hekas Hekas Este Bebeloi!", of relentlessly punishing blast-beat percussion, dry grim vocals verging on the edge of mania, a raw edge and near-frozen cold atmosphere. As the song progresses, it develops a rich layered soundscape of rasping phantom chant, a stern choir, a mix of rhythms and fast, slow and medium-paced sections with tremolo guitar melodies, and brief passages of cavernous black ambience. In spite of its length, the track is single-minded and rarely deviates from its path, even though towards the end the music dissipates into its various instrumental or tonal elements.

Prosternatur starts its side just as punishingly and with as much raw sound and anger as Ancient Moon; and like Ancient Moon too, the band's music features various grim BM voices and cold atmosphere. The band's style weaves from tremolo guitar riffing, pounding percussion and melody to cold uneasy ambience and back, all presided over by bone-chilling vocal rasps and screams. The songs can be very powerful though in the way they all jump from powerful pummelling BM riffing and blast-beats to dark occult atmosphere, they don't appear to be very different from one another. Of the three tracks on offer, the middle song "Zi Dingir Isatum Kanpa!" is the most melodic and accessible, with a controlled and sustained anger, grinding tremolo guitar corrosion, keening background choir and ritual thumping percussion. I must confess I didn't find "Usella Mituti" much to my liking due to some of the vocals which bordered on the cartoonish and silly.

For most BM listeners, Prosternatur's side of the split will be more interesting if only because the band manages to fit in three songs that showcase more of what it can do where Ancient Moon opts for a long track that is initially monotonous and probably doesn't reflect what this band is capable of. At the same time, I think Ancient Moon might just have the edge over Prosternatur in having a more powerful and fuller sound, and in building up a rich sonic world while Prosternatur's sound is on the thin trashy side. Fans of ritual occult BM with a lot of atmosphere might try spinning this split and make up their own minds as to which band is better.

Secretum Secretorum is the 2018 split from two enigmatic forces in the European black metal scene, Ancient Moon and Prosternatur. Both bands feature anonymous, or named yet still unknown, members from European countries, with little information known about either project aside from their previously released material.

Ancient Moon is a three piece, featuring members allegedly from Belgium, France, and Switzerland. The band’s 2015 full length, Vvltvre, was a suffocating and unsettling soiree into swirling black metal and disquieting ambient, brought to to light across a single twenty-eight minute track. Ancient Moon’s contribution to this split, “Hekas Hekas Este Bebeloi!”, is another lengthy testament to black metal and ambient, though it is delivered in a strikingly different way this time around. A short introduction of noisy, repeated tremolo notes surges forth, ultimately bringing primordial, stomping percussion and throbbing bass notes into the fold as the notes continue forward. Eventually the vocals, what sounds like chants from the early Emperor albums and an underlying scream that is ridden with despair, as the the pummeling percussion and trem notes continue until somewhere around the eight-minute mark, where the tempo changes slightly, slowly losing speed and becoming more ritualistic. This immersive, almost monotonous approach is spellbinding, though not noxious like it was on the full length. This trance-inducing approach makes the rampant blasts and fiery trem riffing at the fourteen minute mark sound devastatingly heavy, though shortly after this happens Ancient Moon deconstructs their sound until handing the reins to the following act.

Prosternatur has released no information regarding their membership or origin, aside from the fact that it’s a European project. Abyssus Abyssum Invocat, the band’s debut full length, was released in 2016 and was a dynamic, ritualistic chunk of black metal that, unfortunately, didn’t reach a very large audience. Their three tracks on Secretum Secretorum continue in much the same vein, with a wash of unrepentant, unrelenting black metal. More often than not, the drums blast along while rangy tremolo riffing fires away, though melodic flourishes and nods to ritualistic discomfort are woven throughout. The multi-faceted vocal approach is really cool, with a mix of typical raspy shouts and an ominous chanted style that often blend together into a mystic amalgamation. The abrasive production leaves a little to be desired, as the riffing is quite often muddied under a wall of bass and percussion, but deeper listens allow for a cathartic bloom as the dust settles. From the blistering, acerbic thunder of “Ana Harrani Sa Alaktasa La Tarat” to ritualistic, disquietude of “Usella Mituti”, Prosternatur have delivered three ominously, mystical tracks; clearly carving a special niche all their own.

This is one of those split releases where it’s difficult to point out what band is more deserving of your time. Ancient Moon’s eighteen minute opus of tremolo-infused ambient black metal was a lesson in monotonous immersion while Prosternatur’s abrasive, infectious black metal was riddled with occult mysticism. Perhaps what makes this split so strong is that each band brings their own sense of being into the picture without worrying about what others are doing. In this, Secretum Secretorum stands apart with two bands pushing their own approaches to new levels.

Written for The Metal Observer.