So far, we’ve managed to comment (and comment favorably) about every release from the Chilean occult extremists Invocation, from their debut demo in 2016 through their 2020 EP Attunement to Death, and now we get to maintain our fidelity by premiering a song from Invocation‘s eagerly awaited debut album The Archaic Sanctuary (Ritual Body Postures).
The album is set for release on September 20th by Iron Bonehead Productions, who also released that Attunement to Death EP, as well as its predecessor, The Mastery of the Unseen EP from 2018.
The song we have for you, the second one disclosed from the album so far, is “Opium Thebiacum (Somniferum)“.
Anyone who has followed the progression of Invocation‘s music from their first demo is well aware of what has become over those years perhaps their central and strongest feature — the ability to combine (as one talented writer has described) “sulfurous fire and sepulchral echoes”.
In their interweaving of death and black metal they have the capacity to strike with near-overpowering intensity, to create soul-slaughtering sensations of torment and cruelty, but they also infiltrate their music with shuddering experiences of authentic eeriness and evil, a chilling feeling that veils between our world and others have been torn apart.
The song we’re presenting today abundantly displays those qualities. On the one hand, it attacks with gruesome ferocity, filth-encrusted guitars whirring and whining, drums hammering and detonating with abandon, a ghastly voice howling and screaming like a madman choking with blood-lust.
The band also titanically pound and stomp, like some great and haughty evil marching through the tortured domain it rules (and there you’ll have a chance to pump your head too).
On the other hand, the riffing also writhes and moans like some great worm tunneling from its own nightmare dimension into our own, accompanied by soloing of freakish ecstasy.
In all its aspects, the song makes a frightening impact at a visceral level, but you’ll also find that it’s insidiously infectious: those deleterious riffs have hooks, and so do the plundering and pounding rhythms.
P.S. Here’s what the band have written about this song, and an image they shared at the same time: “Opium Thebiacum (Somniferum) (Based on the Poppy Goddess of Gazi, Greece), 1350 AC. ‘I was picked up and at the same time eaten,’ as a journey through the four elements transforming material into spirit. The pose wears a head ornament adorned with three poppy pods, this reinforces the understanding of the trance experience.”
Iron Bonehead will present the The Archaic Sanctuary (Ritual Body Postures) on CD and vinyl LP formats. As you may know, the label doesn’t traffic in pre-orders, so circle September 20 on your calendar. (However, pre-order of a digital edition is available from the band.)
And also lend your ears to the first advance track from the album, “Ecstatic Trance“, a stream of which we’ve included below.
IRON BONEHEAD:
https://www.ironbonehead.de
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/ironboneheadproductions
INVOCATION:
https://invocationtemple.bandcamp.com/album/the-archaic-sanctuary-ritual-body-postures
https://www.facebook.com/INVOCATIONChile