Norwegian’s Saligia return after their successful full length ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi’ in 2011 with a new taster of new material in the form of a 4 track EP. Much as their debut album left us with, this is a continuation of their occult take on Norwegian black metal, with all the cold flowing evil, shimmering guitar work and unhealthy love of Latin that you’d demand from such a release (even their name ‘Saligia’ is made up of the first letters in Latin of the seven deadly sins: superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira and acedia).
Kicking off the EP is ‘Per Aspera ad Astra’, an evil freezing blast of pure occultism which rattles away nastily, showing off its earthy production and giving immediate evidence of the depth of sound which they can pull out of the simplest of riffs with eerie nuances. Vocally, Ahzari comes into his own during the title track which is up next, channelling Attila Csihar – a voice which suits the blackness of the silky-yet-deadly guitar work and pounding rhythm section, even slipping in the occasional Vikernes’ styled wind-tunnel howl to truly enforce full body horripilation. Track three ‘Maveth, Malachim’ is the shortest on offer, bristling yet more occult sickness with clean vocals more akin to Big Boss of Root. This is accompanied by a sparse musical backdrop, with the repeating of the mesmerising refrain vocally and riff-wise for maximum effectiveness, drilling home their dark message with sinister glee. Closing up the EP is ‘And Death Shalt Have No Dominion’, another trundling bundle of immorality cloaked in an enigmatic black miasma which sinks deep into the listener, enrapturing with a straightforward yet thoroughly spellbinding slice of greatness.
To be fair, there are a good number of great ‘new’ black metal bands crawling from the deepest, darkest Norwegian forests over the past few years, and I’m glad to once more add Saligia to that list after being so impressed with their debut. While this EP may be short in tracks, it clocks in at a good 25 minutes runtime so it’s more than a short stopgap in between writing album number two – the quality alone is enough reassurance of that. Simply put, Saligia spews virulent, viscous venom through its music, tarnishing and corrupting as it bleeds into your psyche. Not enough black metal does that these days, so this is well worth your time tracking down.
(8.5/10 Lars Christiansen)
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