Although this is a debut album, there’s a good deal of experience in Parfaxitas, including contributions by members of Slidhr, Suffering Hour and Oculus. Described as intricate black metal, “Weaver of the Black Moon” is put forward as “a grand declaration of war” and “a monumental feat of organised chaos”.

A sinister, grey, penetrating soundscape fills the sky. The vocals are raspier and rougher than the norm – perfect for the representation of a rancid, rotten scene. The pace picks up begrudgingly. The drummer hammers as the guitar wails. Evil flutters in the air. “Breath of the Thoughtless Light” makes me feel dirty. As if this isn’t enough, pained voices and images of a collapsing world emerge. I’d say there is nothing left but there are five pieces still to go. I hesitate to call them songs. It’s more like macabre extreme theatre.

Where “Breath of the Thoughtless Light” takes it time to mete out suffering, “The Avenging Sword” sees an uptick in pace. It’s no less malevolent or menacing. The quartet that makes up Parfaxitas seem to be having a whale of a time creating terrifying images of destruction and chaos. “Ravens of Dispersion” starts doomily and invokes a scene of horror. A withering riff ensues. Amid the heavy storm, there is human suffering aplenty. Tense and intense atmospheres are a speciality of this album, and this is exactly what the title piece comprises. Hard-hitting and again penetrating, the music is carefully controlled in spite of all the fires and extreme violence going on. No stone is left unturned as the machine drives forward.

Where previously the tempo has changed, the intensity and fire remain as “Thou Shalt Worship No Other” treads its threatening path. Towards the end, a break takes us into a different sphere but the sense of despair and suffering remains unabated. All that remains is a little twelve-minute number “Sea of Blood / Fields of Nightmares”. The gloomy start confirms the obvious fact that Parfaxitas were never going to bow out on a wave of optimism. A spooky echo gives way to an explosion of drums, a stifling guitar riff and the raucous growls of someone preaching terrible things. Squealing sounds of suffering squeeze into the instrumental attack which is creating blacker and blacker clouds. On it goes pompously. The atmosphere is one not just of defiance but of intense majesty. For a few moments we plumb the depths before the inevitable explosion and the return to the imperiously harsh black groove invoking that sea of blood.

It’s perhaps stating the obvious that “Weaver of the Black Moon” is devoted to malevolence and darkness. For large parts it’s raw and some extent old school but it’s well produced as well. Parfaxitas take the best of all worlds, musically speaking, and have created an ever-transforming, well-structured album of uncompromising and extreme black metal. You’ll have no doubts about where you stand with this one.

(8/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://terraturpossessions.bandcamp.com/album/weaver-of-the-black-moon