Fides Inversa have carved a credible black metal niche – a line in raging odes to demonic, adversarial forces that has blended the band into the darkest underbelly of the genre despite issuing only a couple of releases over the past decade. Fides Inversa’s obvious commitment to crafting its own sound has been clearly evident to date, albeit with noteworthy influences the band wears proudly on its sleeve – French flirtations with Deathspell Omega as well as chunks of glacial frost and fire from Mayhem and Funeral Mist. Talking of which, the simmering first track (plunging straight in with a track called ‘Intro’ is always to be admired) could easily have been swiped from Funeral Mist’s last opus as it roils in tempestuous fashion before bleeding into the first track proper, A Wanderer’s Call and Orison. But you can almost feel, in that opening salvo, the pressure to make up for lost time after releasing only a single EP (albeit a lengthy one) since 2013. Vocals bark in time to militaristic percussion and a sickening melody blasting like the herald to some corrupt coronation – all of which could well slide A Wanderer’s Call onto many a ‘best of’ black metal compilation by the end of the year. The question is, with tracks clocking in at a lengthy 7 or 8 minutes so lending themselves to spewing forth rapid fire vitriol, can Fides Inversa keep this pace up for the duration?
Those who’ve been following this Italian outfit with interest won’t be surprised to learn that the broad framework of their sound remains. But, looking back, 2014’s Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans felt like it was composed as a single entity where all the tracks complimented the whole and – like the debut – makes a compelling listen from start to finish while the more recent EP felt more like a meandering collection of ideas not unlike some of Acherontas works from a few years ago (namely Ma-Ion and Amarta). But to understand the wider and deeper influences of the sound – many of which are borne out here in far more depth and detail in this most recent release – it’s worth considering some of the band’s other various links. The band being mastermind Void A.D., his prolific drummer and sometime Fides Inversa vocalist Omega A.D. (who, under his alternative pseudonym, Thorns, has also recently been gracing the rosters of bands such as Blut Aus Nord, Frostmoon Eclipse, Martröð and previously Acherontas and Enthroned) and Wraath from Behexen on vocals.
It’s with all these bands in mind – especially Enthroned, Behexen and perhaps some of its label-mates on WTC (whose owner plays bass on this album) – that might help place into context why it might at first feel like some of the more thoughtful, mid-paced occult black metal influences that ran through previous works have been somewhat battered to the side. This time, each track asserts itself in its own relentless assault and each is, in itself, a glorious edifice – or rather inglorious, standing astride decay and torment with a foul roar. But each also takes elements of Fides Inversa’s earlier sound and many influences and hones them to a sharp, razors edge. Like the first track A Wanderer’s Call, the next track Transcendental Lawlessness is a relentless monster – with corkscrew riff that defies variation and thrusts itself into your brain like some satanic cerebral flagellation – chilling and intensely satisfying if you are up for a mental beating. The bass-heavy rumble of The Visit is more of a heads-down, simmering rage-a-thon (think Varathron with extra sinews) while the anger well and truly boils over in I Glance You with a Touch – like a starving, rabid grizzly bear that’s just fallen into a wasps’ nest hidden in a patch of nettles.
But there’s a temptation from the directness of some of the tracks to write this off as a complete departure from the previous work. But there’s more subtlety than first appears – one that blossoms as the album progresses. Yes, some of the tracks are far more high octane than previous efforts. But Historia Nocturna is actually far from predictable – in fact it’s almost beguilingly unpredictable despite at times delighting in its own simplicity. The final two tracks both drown in classic black metal occultism before finally drifting off behind the veil. Its perhaps only then you can reflect on the progression of the album and its ultimate conclusion which all demands a reassessment of much of what hurries you through the first handful of tracks. It’s a sleight of hand that forces you back to the beginning of Historia Nocturna. Because it’s an album that not only smashes together so many black metal influences you might lose count, it’s also full of hints that the band you thought had been left behind is still very much in the heart of this while annexing swathes of new ground. An album that starts a whole new chapter for the band while cherishing everything that has gone before and much more.
(8.5/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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