Verbia Daemonicus

I’m not the one to think highly of French Black metal for the fact that the majority of the bands that come from there have less-than-stellar releases even if they are considered their masterpieces such as Deathspell Omega's "Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice", Vlad Tepes "War Funeral March", Mütiilation's "Vampires of Black Imperial Blood", etc. While these bands all vary good to excellent, a lot of this just leaves me in the cold. Opinion and personal taste are also two other deciding factors as I rather listen to something from the Finnish or South American black metal scene, but this all changed for the better when I got my hands on a copy of Obscurus Advocam's debut "Verbia Daemonicus".

Obscurus Advocam is not like the above acts where the music is good and well-done, but it doesn't go anywhere. No, OA lets the music do the talking and the riffs guide you through various scenes of a scorched earth in the path of a apocalyptic-like event. Obscurus is one of the type of riff-driven black metal bands with no nonsense in anyway. True that they may have some psychadelic overtones (Nachtmystium) but they are equally as cold(Darkthrone), evil(Herersi), and satanic(Bathory) as best as they get. In fact the swirling riffs give away to some melancholic-like melodies but don't think this is some wimpy wannabe-Silencer rubbish. The best thing is that Obscurus Advocam also shows a level of progressive metal that not too many black metal bands or musicians use and will remind you of the best of Enslaved. The riffs are also backed by blazing blasphemous blast beats and lyrics dealing with the ol' horny one himself. Oh and the production is great too. You won’t have to worry about hearing a band trying to out-kvlt themselves.

First track is “Bounded Artefact” has an interesting start-stop slow brooding melodic doom build-up to slow double kick, whammy bars, and then blast beats but with some post punk-like breaks. For an instrumental as an introduction it is definitely a more of a shape-shifter than anything else. Second track and title track “Verbia Daemonicus” continues the progressive take on black metal a bit further Third track is the first one that I ever heard of from OA and made me an instant fan. “Starlight To Twilight” is an emotional piece full of sorrow and blazing-hatred for life itself. This song has some of the best riffs and melodies on the entire album. If needed, pick the album just for this song along with other cuts such as “To The Bone”, and the epic outro instrumental “Tale Of A Scorched Earth”.

If you are like me in unsure of the French black metal scene and still unsure if it’s all that is cracked up to be and worth it’s weight in the media hype, pick up an album such as “Verbia Daemonicus” which doesn’t fellate itself.

Obscurus Advocam are a little known band from France that play proficient black metal. They have a member of Glorior Belli and an ex-member as well, so expect a bit of Watian worship... but what better band to have as an influence?

Many of the guitar riffs and vocals remind me a bit of Watain, however I also hear a bit of Dawn (Swe.) influence. Being a huge fan of both of these bands, I find this to be a great combo, though not very original. They do have a tendency to drone though and very well, reminicent of Ondskapt's first full length... this keeps things moody and almost meloncholy sounding. Guitar riffs are generally long with fairly predictable timing, but in my opinion, the drums on this release really keep things interesting... blasting, midpaced, slow, even some rockin' moments, this guy can do it all. Like many of the "darker" French bands, the bass is audible, played well and has a very nice tone. As I mentioned before, the vocals remind one of Watain, though a little lower in pitch, with an almost echoey sound to them, not too shabby but nothing great. I really enjoy the guitar riffs on this album, they, like the drums, are played at many different tempos, even clean occasionally. The distortion is perfect on the guitar and every note is easily heard. In fact, all instruments can be heard quite clearly, the production on this album is another good point... everything clear and audible, but still it has a dark murky feel to it.

All in all, a very enjoyable album, every song has moments of (almost) black metal perfection and most of the songs are quite memorable... I'll be spinning this disc for a quite while and i'm certainly going to keep an eye out for future releases from Obscurus Advocam. Definitely recommended for fans of the aforementioned bands but also for Deathspell Omega and Nachtmystium fans as well, get this if you can find it.