Adore

Numenorean is a post back metal quintet from Calgary that I discovered by pure coincidence. It turns out that this young group is one of my greatest discoveries of the year. This isn't so surprising knowing that the band has signed with French label Season of Mist that might be the best in the genre.

The quintet from Alberta offers captivating atmospheres somewhere between despair, grief and sorrow in form of unchained black metal outbursts with cold riffs, pitiless rhythm sections and skilled vocals where one can actually understand most of the lyrics. These moments are interwoven with appeasing, calm and introspective interludes and instrumental tunes centered around soothing acoustic guitar sounds evoking the beauty of nature. The changes, mixtures and transitions always sound perfectly fluid and invite listeners to get emotionally engaged, reconnect with nature and spark their creativity. This is an amazing record to listen to while working as it energizes and inspires from start to finish. Complex yet fluid title track ''Adore'' is probably the best song on the record as it summarizes the band's strengths in almost nine captivating minutes as one discovers beauty in darkness.

If you like the combination of harmonious acoustic and ambient melodies on one side and unchained black metal outbursts on the other side, you are going to adore the detailed, imaginative and rich Adore by Calgarian youngsters Numenorean. In a certain way, the quintet's music reminds me of a harsher version of the soundtracks to the Life Is Strange video games that are absolutely stellar. If you want to listen to something creative, emotional and inspiring, give this record a spin and support the outstanding band and great label behind it.

Blackgaze is a bit of a controversial mini-genre. Black metal purists see bands like Alcest and Deafheaven taking what is meant to be an aggressive and dissonant genre and toning it down intensity in favour of experimenting with cleaner production, cleaner guitars and cleaner vocals, which is a big no-no. The commercial success of these bands as well, Deafheaven getting nominated for a Grammy recently also throws doubt about the "trve cvlt" credibility of this "black metal" they are supposedly playing.

Numenorean, however, has managed to put out an album that balances the aggression of black metal with clean passages and "shouted" vocals that remind me of Joe Duplantier's voice on later Gojira records really well. The track "Portrait of Pieces" is a great example, balancing furious blast beat ladened drumming and tremolo riffing with clean passages that break up the tone nicely. Melody and heaviness are mixed perfectly on songs like "Horizon" and "Coma," Horizon, in particular, being a favourite track of mine. The instrumental track "And Nothing Was the Same" acting as an intermission between the more aggressive first half and the slower, clearer, more melodic, more experimental second half.

What I like about blackgaze or post-black metal bands most is definitely the vocals. The less distorted screams allow for you to actually understand the lyrics, which tend to be more self-reflective and personal. The singer's voice isn't just another instrument adding additional percussion to the track, you have an opportunity to really take in the message that the band is trying to convey. The vocals on this record are really great and the range that the vocalist has is on display on almost every track.

If you like more aggressive music but want to dip your toes into this subgenre, I think this is a great record to start. It's a great record in what is turning out to be a very strong 2019 for heavy music.