You could probably be forgiven for not remembering UKBM outfit Reign Of Erebus, after all it has been 16 long years since they released their second album ‘Inversion Principle’ way back in 2004. The group built up by founding member Cthonian never had the easiest ride when it came to a stable line-up, indeed there were something like 17 members caught in their revolving door syndrome and looking back at some of the bands they were involved in illustrates the best of the UK underground black metal scene. Among them we have Thus Defiled, Blutvial, Acolytes Ruin, Hecate Enthroned, Code, Binah, Seasons End, Black Altar and Fever Sea to name just a few. The band were never completely forgotten, returning to the stage at London’s Incineration Festival in 2017 and proposing new material back then but it has been a slow process, life and lack of dedicated musicians being the main adversaries. Finally, Cthonian found like-minded souls to bring things to fruition and joining him we now have drummer Xjort (Atra Mors, Iron Void ex Heathen Deity) and guitarist V.Y.C.M. Even then there was a last-minute scrabble with their proposed record label necessitating a change at the final hurdle. It’s actually a wonder we are just about here ‘from death eternal’ to finally hear the caustic mass that is De Morte Aeterna.
This is raw black metal and thankfully totally without any trimmings of the clown shoes worn by so many UK artists around the time RoE were flattening the competition with debut album ‘Humanracist – A Higher Form of Human’ at the turn of the millennium. That’s not to say it doesn’t sound massive and the production here is fully-fleshed out making the 8 hymns to darkness sound all the more savage and vicious. Bombing straight into ‘As The Clouds Gather’ without unnecessary intro or any form of subtlety it instantly explodes and gallops off, tight musicianship and battering force being prevelent along with some great sharp and grindy guitar hooks just in case you needed anything more to reel you in. Things get a bit metal with some storming guitar flamboyance courtesy of guest Paul Nazarkardeh (Formicarius, De Profundis) and the result is a forceful battering ram designed to literally tear your head off and take a massive dump down your neck. Thankfully we continue in this violent fashion ‘Doctrine Of The Impious’ hitting hard and attacking furiously full of contempt and embittered snarls against religion and giving it a good old slap around its holy face. A couple of strange and disconcerting sound effects the only thing tempering and making the listener wonder just what the heard, its full of irreverent and war-manlike strife, a gun click summoning an execution in the process and it all devolving into the rumbling sounds of destruction.
Although at times chaos reigns, the melodies of the individual anti-sermons shines through and despite the hateful nature of it all you can feel the urgency and enjoyment the players are feeding off to finally be let off the leash. The vocals are particularly unrestrained in their nastiness, the shrillness of their rasping, penetrating fury really leaving you with no respite. Things are well defined amidst the voracious pillaging nature, listen out for a sudden bass drive on ‘Beneath The Fires’ along with a sudden spoken word part adding authority among the ghastly gibbering vileness. There’s even a slow brooding part here adding a sense of unease and discomfort. Although there is little in the way of respite over the 40-minute playing time this is far from one-dimensional and there are even some clean vocal parts added on a couple of numbers and although they first take by surprise on ‘And All Shall Fade With Time’ they fit in perfectly before the track romps and cleaves away again moving between surges of speed and moribund gloomy darkness. An immediate fix can be found on the hellacious ‘Nightmares Of Being’ a sheer bludgeoning force of fury, vocals full of diabolical menace, hateful and anti-humanist lovers of black metal could wish to find themselves thrown into a cauldron with a left to stew in their juices. Monks chant, a gong is struck and meaty backing vocals combine with the demonic sounds of ‘Herald Of My Descent;’ there’s a well placed sample but despite all these “tricks” nothing unravels and this is left to hurtle down the tracks in a deranged and out of control fashion. With the snappy and incendiary grooves of the title track taking things out this has been well and truly worth the wait and has hopefully been worth all the trials and traumas of getting it released for everyone involved. All that’s missing is the impetus of hearing the material live for now but until then this will do the job nicely. Welcome back, just don’t leave it so long next time or we will all be drawing our bloody pensions…
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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