Album Review: In Aeternum - ...Of Death and Fire
Reviewed by Eric Clifford
I think I was around fifteen the first time I heard Necrophobic. The “Hrimthursum” album (I want to say the song was “Crossing the River”, but it could also have been the also-fantastic “Blinded by Light, Enlightened by Darkness”). And it blew my fucking mind. We’ve all had moments like it, I suspect. You’re going about your business innocently enough when out of the blue comes a song that snatches every iota of your attention and transmutes your tastes entirely, leaving you staring at the speakers wondering what the fuck just happened and how fast you can get more of whatever it was. I still listen to that album. Its brand of black iron hooks sank into a fleshy death core remains jaw dropping to this day, and proves beyond any possible counter that black and death metal were made to cavort together. And it would seem that I have compatriots in this opinion, for lo and behold, In Aeterum crest the horizon, a fresh offering to a world below splayed upon the altar. Will it prove paltry, or a worthy sacrifice to those grim ninth-circle denizens stalking the weeping fields of Hell beneath?
This lot have been around since 1994, which surprised me no end as they play with the undimmed passion of a group one third their age. Do you have any idea how overjoyed that makes me? The ferrous essence of metal itself bleeds from this album, as though at the very dawn of time fate decreed that these men would be set upon the earth for the sole purpose of blasting riffs forth like mass panzer fire. I have read that it is traditional for Muslims to recite the call to prayer to their newborns; in this case, the words recited can only have been that backwards “join us” chant from the start of Slayer’s “Hell Awaits” masterpiece. The band seem to have mastered time travel – which sounds unlikely, but I’m at a loss to otherwise explain how they can make minutes at a time so enthralling that I barely notice the duration of the whole thing zip by. The sacrilegious strains of apex black thrash riffs propel early cuts like “Beneath the Darkened Tomb” and “The Day of Wrath” along at bullet train velocities, suppressive fire from Gatling gun drum work ventilating the sandbags you lie quivering behind.
Like an analingus enthusiast, I found abundant joy at the back end. “Hourglass” for example is a rapacious scourge of black metal that beats the door from it’s hinges with a cascade of supersonic melodic malevolence before the epic latter half stands vigil over the destruction it’s mailed hands have wrought. I’m aware that I might be gushing a tad, but particular annoyances simply aren’t that common here. Sure, the album isn’t perfect, but outside of “Stained Class” and “None so Vile”, not much is. Some of the longer tracks did linger a bit, but even then, there are enough gross riffs – like the undead revenant shamble of “Spirits of the Dead” – to bind your interest to it like a black hole.
“To Those That Have Rode On” coats itself in the stern, mid-paced dignity of ManOwaR through a coal-black lens in a similar manner in which lauded forefathers such as Bathory made such a success of, and it’s hellish credentials are only bolstered further by the infernal presence of Erik Danielsson of Watain (who you may remember performing a tribute set to Bathory some years ago).
It’s in some of these slower songs that their death metal influences become more obvious; “The Vile God of Slime” exists to remind you what the band’s favourite Morbid Angel song is – and even if the title wasn’t enough of a nod, the trollish trudge of it’s verse and chorus certainly would be. It’s as much as anything the way In Aeternum connect these genres together that wins my adotration; nothing feels half arsed, out of place or included for the sole cause of broadening the band’s sonic palette irrespective of whether these elements cohere logically. Instead, it’s a smooth ride - one with immaculate suspension and cheek-swaddling seats, in which each expression of extremity feels to be exactly where it belongs. Yeah, I gravitate towards the speedier stuff, but that’s a “me” thing – in no way would I accuse the band of slovenly or slipshod writing when the tempo dips below the blitzkrieg mania they indulge in elsewhere.
In case it’s not obvious that I really like this, let me make it clear: I really like this. I had woken feeling a little lethargic, truth be told. I’m a busy person; work grinds you down, housework grinds you down, being a father grinds you down...it’s a lot to juggle all at once. Yet hope is never far from the grasping, for whenever the cobwebs threaten to cloud the day, life-affirming heavy fucking metal of Paragon quality is only a few clicks distant. I mentioned Necrophobic in the introductory paragraph; especially as that band has conducted colonial expansions into the lands of black metal in the latter half or so of their career I find the resemblance here applicable. In Aeternum do I think pull a bit more from thrash metal than Necrophobic, but nonetheless if your response to that band was as adulatory as mine then I’d suggest swan diving onto “Of Death and Fire” as soon as you’re physically able. I don’t care if you’re quadriplegic, find yourself a friend equally versed in the infinite majesty of metal and get them to hurl you onto it. Do what you have to. It doesn’t matter. However you can, get on this shit as soon as opportunity permits.
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