12/11/2012

Atrum Inritus - Prognatus In Vorago (2011)

I sat here, utterly lifeless for longer than the duration of this album, I was feeling completely numb, beaten and absent after listening to 'Prognatus In Vorago,' the tremendous debut album from Atrum Inritus.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA in 2010 by the will of front woman, Vindicaré (voice/keyboards), Occipitus (drums), Abyssus (guitar) and Eversor (guitar), Atrum Inritus (Latin for, 'Black Void') is one of the most stunning American black metal bands to grace my ears. Driven by both occult and Satanic philosophies, the band takes the listener through (what feels like) an endless barren course through pure gloom.

Effectively hitting the listener with foreboding keyboards, crawling maleficent guitars, bustling drums and some of the most hideous female shrieks you'll ever come across - this is the world of Atrum Inritus, and let me tell you, its not very light in here. The keyboards serve as a backdrop to the madness of these songs, lingering deep underneath and slowly building in their fiendish intensity, while the drum work is quite diverse and generally well played with moments of complete blasting, slower parts as well as a fair amount of rolls and interesting fills.

The guitars, raw and hissing in tone, are generally paced slower, almost doom-ish at times, though still offering arcane and nefarious riffs that are absolutely hair raising and trance inducing in their delivery. The opening of 'Ladder Of Divine Descent' however shows off a more brutal approach compared to the other songs, but then again this last song also paves way for the new demo, 'Where Serpents Dwell,' which feels a bit different than these songs. Additionally some of the riffs remind me of Deathspell Omega around the time of 'Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice,' while others bring to mind the earlier works of Blut Aus Nord. Given those examples, you can safely bet that this is a serious work of desolate, cold and grim black metal.

Lastly, the vocals really stand out, vicious, yet controlled howls that seem to reach out and possess in their execution, even without making sense of a single word of it. The six songs only last for thirty five minutes, though it feels much longer, and I found myself floating aimlessly within some oblivion until I realized it was said and done. This could possibly be added to the fact the album ends on a surprisingly exciting end note by covering Emperor's, 'Ancient Queen,' rather mightily I shall say.

Maybe the only disappointing aspect of this release is the simple fact that had this band been from Europe they surely would have already been signed to Northern Heritage or Norma Evangelium Diaboli and likely hailed as the next big cult band out there. As it stands, they are on their own, 'Altar of the Dead Productions,' which surely gives them all the freedom in the world, but limited access and unfortunately being American means most will instantly by pass them.

Nevertheless, 'Prognatus In Vorago' has turned out to be a surprisingly immense release, which I would have otherwise probably missed completely had I not attended a local gig where the band performed a few weeks ago.

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