That’ll teach me not to do my research. I was very taken with the debut album by WW1 obsessed blackened death metal band Kanonenfieber but neglected to dig and it appears Non Es Deus are the gent by the moniker of Noise’s other band and this is their third album since 2018. Pretty strong work ethic there in hard times.

There is no god. This is the statement, the manifesto and the intent to cast torchlight on the fanatical observance of religion

Monks and choral chants lead us to ‘Save Us’. A raw edged but clear riff builds into a storm of exhaled vocals and the fast-driving riff. Melody in a dark, raw sense graces it. There’s a heavy layer of ominous denial here, a genuine sounding disgust, little vein of that Finnish sound to it. Very engaging start.

‘Burn It Down’ is an absolute ear worm. An insistent chorus, a rejection of piety a stomp on the church. ‘Fuck Your God’ again has that great use of melodic refrains amongst the spittle and fury, guitars that wind through it, a bitter edge cutting deep.

There is an actual tangible, believable feeling of disgust and rejection of religion prevalent throughout the entire album. The conviction with which it is played seems so much more than posturing; a railing against herded mentalities of the establishments.

‘Haxenwahn’ growls ”..burn the witch’ in mob mentality, with a deep, hypnotic riff to brainwash the congregation. “Rape them, drown them, burn them, make them confess… ” demands the mob. ‘Flagellation’ storms into Sargeist territory with majesty and darkness, the eerie repetitive tune against the thunder of bass drumming and tremolo riffing.  ‘Christraping Polka’ despite the title has no humour to it. This stomps and growls with black ire poured onto the Church. ‘Celebrate The Self Destruct’ is just great songwriting full stop. It so strongly reminds me of the sadly mostly forgotten Sons Of Balor one off project (by musicians unknown… I wonder…) – the easy hooks in a chorus, the intense melody amongst the buzz and the way the vocals being real drama and believable intent to the lyrics.

The sound on this album is really just about spot on. The drums sound rich and the vocals at the perfect level to bite. The melodic runs over the riffs are insistent and memorable, haunting even. But mostly this is about rejection and spite. It never compromises and never lets up.

It’s a bloody good slab of Teutonic, anti-religious black metal with some superb songwriting.

(8/10 Gizmo)

https://noisebringer-records.bandcamp.com/album/impious-2