There is something in here. Almost like, if I could put it in a vial and drink it every day, I would never need to worry about the dull reality of life again. Chaotic, blissful abandon and knuckle-whitening control over your own existence all in the same candlelit, blood-soaked circle. Like a lot of the best black metal really – totally immersive and dark with a very sharp edge. Maybe it’s the fact that Fides Inversa are a duo that gives the band a distinctly refreshing take on orthodox black metal. Maybe there’s something a lot more sinister going on inside the music and lyrics. Whatever the recipe, something special has arisen from the grim and beckoning pits of World Terror Committee (a label name that must be playing havoc over at GCHQ every time it appears on the digital airwaves). What I like about this is that it doesn’t rely on all consuming wall-of-sound or mesmerising fuzz to create the feeling of disorder and misrule. Admittedly Mysterium Tremendum plays heavy with the hypnotic arrangements but at the same time it is stripped down allowing you to see all the parts like clockwork and to focus on the key elements: the fervent vocals, the pounding, irrepressible drums and, first and foremost, the sliding, cursed riffs. The last album, 2009’s Hanc Aciem Sola Retundit Virtus (The Algolagnia Divine), was a little overlooked but this latest is a much more refined release that will hopefully change all that. Because this is corker of an album that should help Fides Inversa rise above the flotsam and perhaps even make it on to a few ‘best of’ album lists of 2014.
While many occult black metal bands seem to be edging towards a more complex and almost ceremonially grandiose style over the past two or three years, Fides Inversa have gone in the other direction. Sharper, more focused production that combines the discordant and disjointed compositions with the rapturous and melodic. At times some of those riffs remind me of Taake even though Watain, Deathspell Omega and Glorior Belli are probably more appropriate comparisons on various different levels. There’s the shadow of Eastern black magic, eerie southern side guitar and even a little bit of folk among the rush of black metal. There’s also a touch of Marduk’s focused rage in there too (although that was probably more evident on the last album for which Marduk vocalist Mortuus created the cover art through his Holy Poison design outfit). The vocals too are worth a mention – in a nice twist the drummer is also the singer. His vocals range from yelled growls to Primordial-style hollering and they make for a nice change to the classic black metal goblin rasps.
Then about halfway through track IV there’s an unexpected choral break which gives you a moment to pause before a classic black metal riff (that could’ve been taken straight off Taake’s Hordalands Doedskvad) breaks in. After that the album seems to take on a more direct and constant pace – as if the measured madness of the first three tracks (the tracks all labelled I-VII) all begins to come together into an ever more tightened grip. There’s a slower, sombre lament through track V that is followed by the final two tracks which raise the bar again with almost 20 minutes of darkness worshiping and sickening energy. To be honest, I liked this album from the moment I heard it. But the more I listened the more its dark incantations began to sink in – totally immersing with their black majesty and simmering power. When the final track closes it’s almost as if the black veil has been lifted. All that’s left behind in its wake is the thin colourless, grey light of reality. There’s no choice really but to start it all over again from the beginning. Let the ceremony begin once more….
(9/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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