Veilburner returns in late 2024.
In two years, the duo Mephisto Deleterio (instruments) and Chrisom Infernium (vocals, Pyrrhic Salvation, Torture Ascendancy 1307, Humanity Decayed) have created The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom, their seventh album, released by Transcending Obscurity Records.
We start with Tem Ohp Ab in Mysticum, which doesn’t take long to lock us in this tenebrous pit from which dissonant harmonics then vociferations emerge in quasi-continuity, accompanying a ferocious rhythm. The chaotic jolts lend an oppressive aspect to the surge, as do the strange bells and choirs, but the band follows up with III Visions of Hex-Shaped Hiss, Behead the Howling Spirit, an equally disconcerting composition with hypnotic leads and effects whose madness will seem obvious, just judging by the vocal parts. The instrumental’s avant-garde approach seems natural enough, as does that of The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom Part I, which takes Black/Death’s fury and transposes it to more melodic, disquieting elements that borrow from the complexity of Progressive Metal and other musical oddities. The sound becomes menacing, then explodes and calms down as it joins The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom Part II, which starts exactly where the previous one left off and continues this improbable mental journey thanks to soaring leads, but heaviness is never far away, and it won’t hesitate to disturb the peaceful stroll, not least thanks to this sudden eruption. A few whispers accompany the transition to Shadows of a Shadow, the next composition which initially applies more traditional layers of darkness, but the intriguing additions quickly resurface before the waves of violence before integrating them into their march. The band follow up with Woe Ye’ Who Build these Crosses…Are Those Who Will Serve Us Death and its vivid riffs, but also its unexpected and surprisingly soothing pause that lasts only a short while, leaving the musicians to return to their morbid advance. The sound shatters, then reverts to unhealthy tones with V.I.I. (Voured Ichneumous Icon), the last of the seven compositions and the most accessible on the album, offering ethereal harmonics to contrast with the more brutal blast that will precipitate us towards the final moments.
With seven new seven-minute songs, Veilburner succeeds in both comforting and surprising us. The Duality of Decapitation and Wisdom is a unique album, as rich as it is disturbing, and one that will find its audience by revealing all its strange darkness.
85/100
