AN NCS PREMIERE: OFERMOD — “INAX YA LIL”

The formidable Swedish black/death band Ofermod has wasted no time returning with a new album, just a year after 2020’s Pentagrammaton (which was itself a double album). The new one is entitled Mysterium Iniquitatis, and it’s set for release on December 3rd by Shadow Records (with distribution by Regain). It  sees the original lineup joined together once again – Belfagor on guitar and vocalist Nebiros (Malign, Mephorash) – with session bass by Magnus “Devo” Andersson (ex-Marduk) and session drums by Calle Larsson.

The first “single” from the record was the title track, which also begins the album. It made a tremendous impression, and today we present another one of the new album tracks that also relentlessly seizes attention. This one is named “Inax Ya Lil“.

In the title track, after a slow, solemn, and mournful cello instrumental, the music unfolds in similarly funereal fashion but then begins to race. As the drums thunder, the writhing main riff sears, and as the riff morphs it loses none of its fiery and forlorn power. Nebiros‘ caustic snarls are feral and ferocious, and the male choir that joins in adds to the music’s air of solemn and sinister grandeur.

The music is produced in a way that gives it clarity — but not too clean — and that enhances the magnetic power and troubling allure of the riffing and the swirling, soaring, and feverish leads.

 

 

The song we’re presenting for the first time today, “Inax Ya Lil“, opens in immediately diabolical and threatening fashion, with ugly growls accompanied by dictatorial drum and bass beats and a poisonous riff. As massed voices join in, the riffing begins to boil and the drumming batters in a fury, creating a feeling of savage exultance that only becomes more incendiary and wild.

The whirling and slashing guitars relentlessly burrow into the head as Nebiros resumes his vitriolic expulsions and the bass bubbles like fresh lava. The fervent singing of those massed voices elevates the song to even greater heights of dangerous and devilish glory every time they appear, with the rhythm section driving the listener’s pulse just as forcefully as they propel the momentum of the music.

 

 

Mysterium Iniquitatis is available for pre-order now.

PRE-ORDER:
https://regainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mysterium-iniquitatis

OFERMOD:
https://www.facebook.com/OfermodOfficial