It seems massively unfair reviewing this after two weeks, whilst Secrets’ previous effort ‘Antithesis’, took me about six months to learn to adore. Three years have passed since that hour of immensely original modern Black Metal, sprung from nowhere, wiping the floor with all of the competition as far as I was concerned.
Now ‘Privilegivm’ rises with new members and again, quite a developed sound. Recruited from France, Parisian LSK (Antaeus, Vorkreist, Hell Militia amongst others) has taken over ex-bassist Daevas’s roles, adding her own formidable bark quite literally to both album and live performance, and though not having recorded with them, ex Negura Bunget bassist Arioch (or Ar) has also replaced guitarist A.D. on stage.
As mentioned, their sound has certainly progressed, but not unrecognisably so. If anything, ‘Privilegivm’ is slower, darker and more brooding than ‘Antithesis’. It’s still quite obvious that the band come from a Black Metal background even if the tag doesn’t do them justice any longer. The Lupus Lounge maxim, ‘Black Metal and beyond’ seems more appropriate, though it really is quite a considerable ‘beyond’.
The introduction of ‘Privilegivm’ has a very atmospheric air to it with a wall of guitar and a succession of ritualistic singing. It melds perfectly into ‘Sulphur’; stop start chugging at first, but then a blackened riff rises up and the song begins to take shape, slowly but surely. Hearing this first hand at Summer Breeze (about 20 hours before getting this promo) it was evident that LSK’s backing voice adds another element to this, behind sG’s striking snarls. One of the few really aggressive sections comes at the end, in distinct, built-up SotM fashion; sG’s heavy breathing making way for Thelemnar to blast his way, with the front man screaming ‘Great father, I am yours to follow, Great father, I am yours to swallow, Great father, Thy maker, High master, Breathe sulphur’.
‘Black Halo’ follows with a considerably slower and moodier approach, articulating the band’s realm of beauty and darkness exceptionally well. A monolithic slab of riffing arises for the verses, between which more splendid misery greets us.
A ray of absolute darkness penetrates the sound and Thelemnar’s bass drums drive the song down further until the original moody beginning spirals back into sight for some moments. Night takes hold once again as the drummer and sG delve into a chaotic dive of blast-beats, bass drums and absolute Black Metal, and it goes out in slow gloomy style as LSK addresses us with a speech ending the song on a very fine point of ambience.
An echoed drum march lays the backbone for the first part of the mammoth ‘Harvest’. Half a minute in, some chords reminiscent of the dreary discordance of Deathspell Omega land, and you can tell this is going to be one Hell of a song. The pace shifts and a very vague hint of Opeth is detected before things swing further into gear and then stop briefly. The chords of something even darker blur past as a slightly deranged speech, presumably by sG is heard, forgiving himself for allowing himself to believe that God exists.
The wholly metallic riffage returns and it’s hard not to scream ‘PRIVILEGIVM’ in unison. The riffs progress, evolve and are combined with the earlier twangs of disharmony as Thelemnar flies around his kit building the blocks encapsulating sorrow and more. This culminates in a strangely Burzumic lagging crawl which then explodes in an instant and we find ourselves back on the harsh windy road as it rains Metal once again. Vast and spectacular are the only words for it.
‘Shepherd’ is so far the most daring track the band have written, being surprisingly light in substance in comparison to the other songs on offer here. Old Metallica even comes to mind, particularly the song ‘Welcome Home (Sanitorium)’ and sG produces some slightly melodic semi croons for a more fitting style making it an unexpectedly successful closing song.
If I was to choose a painting to describe ‘Privilegivm’, it would undoubtedly be Van Gogh’s ‘Wheat Field with Crows’, for the sheer heaviness of mood, atmosphere and darkness broken only by moonlight (pun unintended).
The songs are incredibly memorable; so much so that they infiltrated my defences and humming anything else for a week was nigh on impossible. I can’t see the point in comparing it to ‘Antithesis’, especially after only two weeks, and in any case they’re quite removed from one another. I’ll just leave the above words to do the talking.
http://www.secretsofthemoon.org
http://www.myspace.com/secretsofthemoon
http://www.prophecy.cd
