OF DARKNESS – missa tridentina CD

a cult band even among an already-cult scene, OF DARKNESS are an experimental funeral doom band hailing from Barcelona. While exuding the characteristic traits of the subgenre – sepulchral tones, glacial pace, suffocating atmosphere – the Spaniards look beyond mere metal for idiosyncratic deployment of other such musics as ambient, industrial, and especially classical. Intensely atmospheric and deeper than the abyss, their sound is the perfect landscape for the members’ extreme nihilistic beliefs. And although those members concurrently play in such distinguished bands as Teitanblood, Balmog, and Graveyard among many others, in thought and deed is OF DARKNESS entirely its own entity.

Fittingly for their cult nature, OF DARKNESS have never been an active band in a traditional way; it’s just an on/off project that appears every once in a while, so many people thought and still think the band is on hold or even inactive – which, in a way, is true. During the infamous lockdown, the trio decided to prepare new material, which was composed, recorded, arranged, and mixed in three days: as usual for OF DARKNESS since they never rehearse, and rather just improvise in the studio while recording. Nevertheless, what has emerged – the seven-song/43-minute Missa Tridentina – is a monumental album that sounds anything but improvised. Solemn and spacious, much like an ancient cathedral, OF DARKNESS’ second album slowly unfolds, each minute moving ominously but with portent, almost soothingly, as textures flicker with recognition but then fade away, and on and on and on again. The whole work is threaded together as one massive composition, and therein lies the genius of OF DARKNESS: taking far more cues from classical than funeral doom, one could view these separate movements as suites of a larger orchestral work, and indeed do they incorporate orchestration that arguably plays a great role than the usual metal-oriented instrumentation. At times, there’s a diabolical disconnect – and successive dissonance – between both elements, as if they’re each playing of their own accord; but then, like slowly undulating wisps of smoke, a certain sense of order arises, haunting and hypnotizing. It’s incredibly avant-garde without being belabored or overbearingly performative about it. It’s also unlike most “funeral doom” records past and especially present. OF DARKNESS challenge even the bravest listeners with Missa Tridentina.

Tracks:

1. Adjutorium Nostrum in Nomine Domini
2. Requiem Aeternam
3. Dies Irae
4. Deus Qui Umanae Substantiae
5. Eis Requiem, Eis Requiem Sempiternam
6. Requiescant in Pace
7. Ite Missa Est

Genres: Doom Metal, Death Metal

Label: Personal Records

Erscheinungsjahr: 2023

Künstler: OF DARKNESS

Spieldauer: 42:07

Format: CD

EAN: –