A few years ago, during the height of my immersion in black metal, I checked out the debut album from yet another incredibly promising French act, Glorior Belli. It was a solid album, and among those with an incredibly admirable visual aesthetic tied to its musical merits, but I've barely listened to it since that time because I felt that there was this very weird characteristic to the album where all of the drumming sounded completely erratic and unbalanced—almost as though the drummer was in his own twistedly nightmarish world that had absolutely nothing to do with what the rest of the band was doing. So I don't know if I should be thankful for the fact that there's a different drummer performing on "Manifesting the Raging Beast"—their Southern Lord-released follow-up—or not, but there is, and among other things that really seems to make one hell of a difference in terms of the focus and overall listenability of the material.
Certainly not as "out there" as some of their French counterparts in terms of what it takes for black metal to be a little out of the ordinary, this album sees Glorior Belli thickening up and subtly polishing the production values to just the right degree, while the overall atmosphere explores a hint more of those slower and more winding dissonant riffs that always tend to stand out and grab more attention amidst whirlwinds of speed and unhinged ferocity. There are a number of relatively straightforward arrangements and riffing techniques at work throughout, but this time around everything is executed with a very calculated level of quality: The music itself, the performances, the recording, the graphic design... and the lyrics as well—which it's worth noting are curiously artistic and creatively high-minded in a way that, at least to me, avoids the almost pompous disposition of certain comparable outfits:
"Forever abused..." softly sings the plague. Still a voice divine can sing, and this incomparable beauty still adorn a rotten heart—my own where the poison shines and boils. And in each note; emotions flung aloft with fevered pace. The music of my soul is sung with tainted grace...
It may not be a groundbreaking piece of work in the end, but as I've said before this is not a genre particularly driven by invention. These eight songs/40 minutes demonstrate a noticeable shift towards the true power and feeling that Glorior Belli is capable of achieving, and that's certainly a respectful progrssion. Very nicely done...
Glorior Belli "Severed From the Self"
Comments
greets from manila! great page + lots of stuff! added on u my links!
12.13.2007 | By dane
They nailed the recording on this, especially in the drumming area and the thickness of the riffs helped the whole thing along as well. And you’re right, the graphics on this (as well as their other stuff) are pure tits.
12.13.2007 | By Johnny
Pretty aiight. The label talks about this band having almost indie rock type melodies but I don’t really hear it, at least in this track. Cool vocals, fairly memorable riffs…but nothing too fresh going on here.
12.13.2007 | By Justin
I haven’t seen the “indie rock type melodies” claim anywhere, but that’s pretty laughable. I would definitely not draw that comparison at all, ha, ha…
12.13.2007 | By Andrew Aversionline
Damn this sounds wicked. It’s rare to come by BM with production this good. But goddamn, those croissant-eating bastards are pumping out some great metal as of late. I’m not even exaggerating, I’ve been listening to Hyadningar “Imminent Useless Soul” and Arkhon Infaustus “Orthodoxyn” every day for atleast the last three weeks, which is rare for me.
12.13.2007 | By Redeemer
Aquarius Records used the indie rock comparison first and Southern Lord has been using it in its ads for the album in magazines.
12.14.2007 | By Justin
Ha ha, I’ve since picked this up after hearing the title track and “Deadly Sparks” on the myspace and this album kills! Not super original but much more memorable and fluid than most of their counterparts.
1.26.2008 | By Justin