Raüm steps up a gear.
Two years after their first offering, Olivier Jacqmin (vocals), Geoffrey Deghaye (guitar), Jérôme Di Naro (guitar) and Xavier Legrand (drums) continue their collaboration with label Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions for the release of their second album, Emperor of the Sun.
The album kicks off with the mysterious Eclipse of the Empyreal Dawn, which then jumps out at you with its bloody riffs, furious vocal parts and icy atmosphere. Harmonics embellish the majestic rhythm that moves forward under the piercing growls, and if the track seems to end in a death rattle, it picks up again and carries us through to Nemo Me Impune Lacessit, where the tone is heavier. The composition is also more jerky, offering a shifting rhythm that doesn’t hesitate to accelerate and adopt rawer Old School influences, while Grounds of Desolation moves towards more grandiose aerial passages while remaining anchored in this saturated sonic fog. A passage in clear sound allows us to breathe a bit before the storm returns, followed by a new wave of pure darkness called Towards the Flames, which seems much more ferocious at first sight, and also doesn’t hesitate to place warlike sounds to accompany its riffs. Nothing seems to be able to stop this surge, but it breaks off and is slowly reborn, first with a few notes, then growls and finally the blaze that resumes and leads us to Obscure, a perfectly named creation that skilfully couples its rhythm with violent tones. The final is far more majestic, even offering some clear backing vocals to complement the furious vocal parts, before moving on to Emperor of the Sun, the eponymous track, which bewitches us with almost permanent hypnotic tones that naturally graft onto the base of the flowing rhythm that flows through to the mysterious break with a hint of melancholy before starting again as it began. The sound cuts off to make way for A Path to the Abyss, which closes the album by taking up the dark tones and letting them spill out before us, screaming and blending its different influences until the final breeze.
Raüm picks up his story right where he left off with the previous album, creating a logical sonic connection with Emperor of the Sun. Whether the album is easy to listen to the first time, it always reveals a little more richness later on.
90/100