AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: SHRINE OF INSANABILIS — “DISCIPLES OF THE VOID”

 

About a month ago we brought you a clue to what lies within Disciples of the Void, the debut album by a mysterious entity known as Shrine of Insanabilis, with our premiere of a song from the album named “Ruina“. Now we are privileged to lift the veil all the way off as we deliver a full stream of the album in advance of its September 22 release by W.T.C. Productions.

Actually, that metaphor about lifting the veil is an overstatement, because the identities of the band’s members are still concealed, and the music itself remains mystical. But that’s only part of its allure.

 

 

The music is the kind of black metal that burns like a flaming sword and yet casts an aura of pitch black darkness — which may seem like a contradiction in terms, but it’s true. The swarming riffs are absolutely incendiary, and the drumming is equally ferocious, whether the drummer is blasting at a jet-fueled pace or tumbling like an avalanche of boulders. The vocalist adds to the white hot burn of the music with a savage and thoroughly impassioned array of bestial howls, heartless roars, and baying-at-the-moon yells.

On the other hand, the melodic components of the music are as dark as indigo, ranging from moving waves of doleful beauty to booming dirges of cold disdain to frenzied warlike anthems (and there are hypnotic moments of chilling ambience within the album, too). What’s more, those melodic components are as memorable as they are dramatic.

The band change the pace and the intensity of the flame within each song, producing an electrifying sense of vitality. As in my favorite track, the remarkably dynamic and intensely moving “Invocation”, one moment you can be carried away in the fury of the firestorm, the next you can feel yourself drifting in the smoke through a winter sky filled with stars and spectral visions.

The album also has an overpowering sound, produced in a way that maximizes the weight and savagery of the music but also delivers the music’s ever-changing vibrancy with the kind of clarity it deserves.

In short, Disciples of the Void is a riveting work, and one of the strongest black metal albums of the year.

 

Disciples of the Void will be released by W.T.C. Productions on September 22, and it features fantastic cover art by the talented David Glomba (Teitanarts). Initially there will be a CD and digital release (which is already available as of today), to be followed later in the year by a vinyl LP in cooperation with Fallen Empire. The track list is as follows:

1.End All
2.Ruina
3.Acausal Paths
4.(………..)
5.Invocation
6.Still Of This Earth
7.Cycles And Circles
8.Acerbus
9.Omega

https://wtcproductions.bandcamp.com/album/disciples-of-the-void
https://www.facebook.com/ShrineOfInsanabilis
https://www.facebook.com/W.T.C.Productions
http://www.w-t-c.org