SHADES OF BLACK: CULTUS PROFANO, DUMAL, KORIHOR, KIZIN, ZIFIR, GRISVELOS

 SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Jun 282020
 


Cultus Profano

 

The last 24 hours didn’t go as I had planned, but I have no one to blame but myself. I separated myself from most NCS activities after finishing yesterday’s round-up, and then partied a bit too hard with my spouse during one of our rare outings to a local bar and restaurant (which is very serious about social distancing). On the plus side, I slept for 11 hours after that. On the minus side, my brain was in a dense fog after awakening, a fog that’s only now beginning to dissipate.

So, to avoid letting the day pass entirely by without one of these usual Sunday collections, I had to change my plans and limit myself to a handful of individual songs and videos (and one demo), rather than trying to write about some recently released full-lengths that I want to strongly recommend. I’ll have to find some other way to do that.

CULTUS PROFANO (U.S.)

The first selection is “Cursed in Sin, Op. 25“, a song from the upcoming album Accursed Possession by Cultus Profano. We premiered not one but two songs off this Los Angeles-based duo’s debut album Sacramentum Obscurus, which was a terrific first full-length. And I’ve been eager to hear this new one. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CULTUS PROFANO — “CULTUS PROFANO, OP. 9”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Feb 062018
 

 

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of premiering a track from the debut album Sacramentum Obscurus by the Los Angeles-based black metal duo Cultus Profano. The album will be released on February 23rd by Debemur Morti Productions, and today we bring you the debut of this impressive new album’s final track: “Cultus Profano, Op. 9“.

In writing about the previous song we premiered (“Under the Infernal Reign, Op. 10“), I observed that from the hate-filled scowls of their corpse-painted visages to the Satanic mysticism that inspired their song titles and lyrics, Cultus Profano fuel their creations with loathing and abhorrence, seemingly guided by visions of fire and plague, and of the ascendency of evil and the triumph of sin. But, at least to my ears, I thought the mood of that previous song was one of intense sorrow and desolating despair — and it proved to be a hauntingly memorable song as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CULTUS PROFANO — “UNDER THE INFERNAL REIGN, OP. 10”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 232018
 

 

Not for the first time, it occurs to me that there is a paradox in those musical strains of black metal that have their roots in the sinister, nocturnal emanations spawned in the ’90s. The new Los Angeles band Cultus Profano embraces those traditions with a fierce devotion, conjuring “a pure form of blasphemy that evokes hatred and darkness”, to quote Debemur Morti Productions, who will release this duo’s debut album Sacramentum Obscurus on February 23rd. And yet the song from the album that we’re helping to premiere today — “Under the Infernal Reign, Op. 10” — powerfully evokes other moods.

From the hate-filled scowls of their corpse-painted visages to the Satanic mysticism that inspired their song titles and lyrics, the band fuel their creations with loathing and abhorrence, seemingly guided by visions of fire and plague, and of the ascendency of evil and the triumph of sin. But the mood of the music, at least to these ears, is one of intense sorrow and desolating despair. Continue reading »