We are witnessing Apolaustic’s birth.
Created by vocalist Romain Negro (ex-Stortregn), the project features Merlin Bogado (guitar/bass, Dyssebeia) and Nicolas “Ranko” Muller (drums, Akiavel), as well as the Indian label Transcending Obscurity Records, to bring its debut album, No Plenitude Without Suffering* to life.
The album opens with the melancholic intro of Devouring the Past” quickly overtaken by a furious yet melodic distortion that lets us fully experience the intensity and violence of powerful Black/Death metal, accompanied by visceral screams. While the rhythm section tends to calm down, the vocalist remains anchored in his rage, fueling the contrast that we also find on the heavy Fragments from a Misty Journey in the form of a duality between roars and whispers, always following an instrumental crafted with dissonant harmonics. We move on to the dark and pessimistic tones of Testimony of an Obsolescent World, the next track, which once again plays on this duality between haunting leads and a more brutal foundation, giving center stage to the guitars and vocals before finally calming down in the finale and leading us to Shining Amidst the Lights. With a stronger focus on Swedish-style old-school tones, the track tears into us from all sides before granting us a welcome moment of respite—one that shatters to make way for a majestic final, followed by Smells Like Dead Autumn Fire, a dreamy instrumental interlude in which the acoustic guitar succumbs to melancholy. The distortion resurfaces on the haunting Black Flame Reviver, which also features a saxophone before igniting and letting the blast beat dominate the rhythm section, accompanied by furious vocals as the tone grows colder, almost more solemn. We move on to De Feu et de Cendre, starting with an unsettling softness then shifting to almost playful harmonics, once again reinforcing the contrast with the overall atmosphere, which remains heavy, right up to those final ghostly notes before Peregrination Towards Childhood Memories closes out the album, not without showering us with its piercing harmonics and striking vocal parts to accompany the power of the rhythm section, always with those recognizable and distinct influences.
Although its creator is far from being an unknown novice, Apolaustic demonstrates strong roots and an already well-established identity. No Plenitude Without Suffering is sure to delight fans of the Swedish scene, constantly navigating between Black and Death Metal in its melodies.
90/100