Still signed to Vendetta Records, K.B. (vocals/guitar), G.S. (drums), N.L. (bass) and B.G. (guitar) spent two years fine-tuning their new creation, still illustrated by Stefan Todorovic (Crescent, Asagraum, Nordjevel, Gaerea…).
The album opens with the piercing cry of The Cavernous Blackness of Night, an oppressive first composition in which despair and intensity reign supreme, while the tortured instrumental flows at breakneck speed. Vocal parts shift from massive growls to visceral howls, while heady melodies surround us and drag us towards Towards Asphyxiating Darkness, where we notice a slightly slower tempo, allowing the riffs to become haunting before welcoming the tormented screams that haunt them, granting a horrific dimension. The end of the track sounds like a thick fog, as it is so dissonant and fascinating, dissolving to make way for Cold. Tenebrous. Evil, which takes a more unhealthy and catchy approach, using chilling harmonics to complement an effective rhythmic pattern. Although more violent, the track remains fairly short, as does Into the Eternity of Death, which acts as a mystical, mysterious interlude where keyboards accompany us through to No Light till Life’s End, which returns to rage with furious vociferations and cutting riffs. A natural contrast develops with airy leads and a few clean vocal parts, then An Axe. A Broadsword. A Bullet follows for almost a quarter of an hour of shifting darkness, ranging from the most raw and heartbreaking to deep passages, as well as a moment of tenebrous yet incredibly reassuring softness. We’re almost lulled into a sense of calm that welcomes violence back with open arms, and the different hues influence each other as the vocal parts anchor themselves in palpable suffering and then in majestic tones before slowly fading away, giving way to Thalassophobia and its suffocating slowness disturbed by the desperate vocal eruptions that bring the album to a close.
Just like its predecessor, Death’s Soliloquy captures our mind and brings us face to face with an as dangerous as intense ocean of darkness. Ante-Inferno truly is a band apart, and its dark art continues to fascinate me.
95/100
