Band: Solfernus Title: Neoantichrist Genre: Black Metal Year: 13th October 2017 Time: 39 min Rating: 77/100
Second album for Solfernus after even 12 years from their first opus "Hysteria in Coma" (Shindy Productions, 2005). Maybe many of you never heard Solfernus before this review but you have to know that this quartet from Czech Republic features two members from Root, one of the main black metal acts from the ex-Czechoslovakia active since the end of the '80s. This means that we're talking about musicians with a lot of experience and, in fact, it isn't a case if this "Neoantichrist" deserve a good consideration.
Considering the aforementioned premises, it's obvious that also Solfernus plays black metal. But they play it by showing an incredible versatility through 10 very different songs. So, you can find furious blasting massacres like "Dominion" (that follows the acoustic intro with...Spanish guitar "Ignis"!) or the more structured "Glorifired" but always with a little thrashing vibe. At the contrary, you can find also slower songs like the mephitic and doomish "Mistresserpent" (watch below the making of the videoclip, scheduled for the Spring of 2018, of this song).
As you can see, Solfernus have the tendency to mix their black metal with other genres. More specifically, their thrashing tunes are exemplified at their best by the very intense and violent "Pray for Chaos!" while the title of the short "Between Two Deaths" is a program because this song shows clear death metal influences. As if this isn't enough, the album ends with two mid/slow numbers: the incredibly epic and Bathory-esque titletrack and the very slow "Stone in a River" (that, at times, reminds me a lot even of..."Dark Avenger" by Manowar!). In general, I can say that the first part of the album spew forth a good amount of violence and fury while its second part is characterized by more melodic and atmospheric skills (like in the evocative end of "Once Upon a Time in the East"). All this is completed by caustic screams, some clean vocals, an acoustic guitar solo just during "Dominion" (!), and rare hints of keyboards, without forgetting a clean enough kind of production.
Maybe there's too much at stake on this album because Solfernus seem to be a little confused about their main sound (sometimes, the songs are stylistically too different!) while "Stone in a River" isn't so effective to end the hostilities (I think the album needed a faster closing song...and I am saying this not only because I mostly prefer the violent numbers!). Despite all this, tracks such as "Pray for Chaos!", "Between Two Deaths" and the titletrack are really outstanding, so this album deserve a (moderately) high rating! Now I hope that Solfernus will not wait for other 12 years to create their third opus!
Tracklist:
1 - Ignis/Dominion
2 - Glorifired
3 - Mistresserpent
4 - Pray for Chaos!
5 - That One Night
6 - Between Two Deaths
7 - Once Upon a Time in the East
8 - My Aurorae
9 - Neoantichrist
10 - Stone in a River
Line-up:
Khaablus - vocals
Igor - guitars
Mamba - bass
Paul Dread - drums
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