originally written by Chris McDonald
After such a massive, sprawling outing as last year’s Denunciatas Cinis, Haeresiarchs of Dis is taking a decidedly more compact approach with this follow-up effort. In Obsecration of the Seven Darks is a shorter and more condensed outing than its predecessor, running around fifty minutes over nine tracks, but the basic recipe is much the same; a swirling and chaotic brand of epic black metal interspersed with a variety of different ambient exercises. While the music succeeds on the same level as Denunciatas Cinis, the pacing of In Obsecration proves to be its biggest downfall.
Just like the last album, the main attraction here is the black metal, and it is once again superbly done. Sole member Cernunnos’s chaotic soundscapes, highly influenced by Anthems-era Emperor, are viciously intense and atmospheric at the same time, and they pack in tons of ideas without ever feeling too scatterbrained. Highly unorthodox and creative drum arrangements lay the groundwork for a seething bedlam of guitars and vocals to tear across, with riffs that just ooze the kind of sinister malevolence that many projects can only hope to achieve. There’s little in the way of melody or tragic tones, just a torrent of ripping ferocity with an unsettling undercurrent of ambience running beneath.
With that said, there’s actually quite a bit of depth to the guitar compositions. “Remembrance of He Who Defied God” is the best example, starting with a slow, ominous buildup only to launch into a blistering series of spine-tingling riffs not far off from early Enslaved material. Closer “Consumation of the Seed/Dawn” also features some brilliant dynamics, integrating some Deathspell-ian oddities and manic lead guitar into the bubbling cauldron. Add in how chilling the high-pitched vocals are and how great the production is, and Haeresiarchs of Dis’s brand of black metal is nothing less than top-notch.
But like Denunciatas Cinis, a good half of this album is ambient or ambient-derived material, and here comes my main complaint with In Obsecration of the Seven Darks. While the ambient portions are serviceable in execution, the shorter running time of this album means that the black metal portions feel shortchanged. As good as the blackened side of the material on this record is, I was left wanting more of it by the time the album came to a close. These aren’t just minute-long ambient snippets either; “Aut Vincere Aut Mori” consists of over five minutes of long organ-notes, while the muted symphonics of “Passage” run for over four minutes. Even album-standout “Confounded By the Vanquished Coil” starts with over a minute of ambient noise. It’s just too much for an album with a relatively modest length like this one, especially one where the black metal portions are so excellent.
This problem is exacerbated by the inclusion of a cover of Emperor’s “Ensorcelled By Khaos,” which follows the letter of the original almost to a tee. It’s a fantastic song, obviously, but its inclusion in the album as one of the primary cuts was a very poor choice. It’s obvious enough that Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk is a huge influence on the sound of this project, and with the shortage of pure black metal material on here, relegating six minutes of this album to recreating someone else’s music just seems lazy.
As good as the high points of this album are, I can’t help feeling that Cernunnos could have chopped off the cover and some of the ambient tracks and released In Obsecration of the Seven Darks as a killer EP instead of this rather incomplete-feeling full-length. You’re basically getting four fantastic, original black metal tracks, four hit-or-miss ambient interludes, and a cover. That doesn’t make for a substantial listening experience in my book, and that’s ultimately the biggest problem with In Obsecration. Considering that this was released less than a year after the last LP, a little more time in the cooker could have gone a long way in making this a more engaging and fulfilling venture. Hopefully the next Haeresiarchs of Dis album will see an increased focus on this project’s strengths, because they are many. They just aren’t adequately represented this time around.
