AN NCS PREMIERE: APOLOGOETHIA — “DE HUMANAE NATURA”

 

Javi Bastard (aka J.B.) is a man of many talents. He has been a creative force and accomplished performer in such excellent and stylistically diverse Spanish bands as Graveyard, Körgull the Exterminator, Krossfyre, Lux Divina, and many more. He is also a busy record producer under the banner of his Moontower Studios, with an extensive (and very impressive) list of albums that he has engineered, mixed, and/or mastered over the last 8 or 9 years. And now he can add one more splendid accomplishment to his burgeoning resume, and that’s the debut EP of Apologoethia. Entitled Pillars, it will be released by Invictus Productions on November 24, and we’re fortunate to present the premiere of a track from the EP named “De Humanae Natura“.

We’re told that J.B. began Apologoethia back in 2012 as a solo black metal side-project to develop musical ideas that didn’t fit with his main band, Graveyard. A few years later he enlisted the assistance of J.F. on drums, and then brought L.O. into the band as lyricist for the tracks he had composed. And now the first fruits of these efforts are being revealed.

 

 

I wrote about the first track released from the EP about a month ago, “De Aeterno Praesentia”, which I attempted to describe in this way:  “With diabolical energies that surge and ebb, ravage and rock, harrow and hypnotize, the track is a damned good harbinger for this release. In its frequently changing emotional colors, it presents visions of arcane euphoria, oppressive gloom, and solemn summonings of dark power. There is bleak grandeur and terrible beauty in the music, as well as the kind of barbarism and insanity that fires the nerves.”

“De Humanae Natura” displays a similarly diverse array of dark sensations, in accord with the title of the song itself — “about human nature”. The changing moods of the track include feelings of roiling madness, bounding violence, looming terror, and ultimately the descent into the grave.

Over the pneumatic punch of the opening drum rhythm the guitar rapidly writhes, lashes, spirals, and swarms, and then the music segues into a punk-like romp, only to slow into a lurching gait with a doomed, infernal melody tinged with horror. The music continues to move among these states of play, with vicious growls and snarls reverberating over the music as if the lyrics were being exclaimed in a crypt. An arresting, swirling melody surfaces… and then there is a final, dismal, dirge-like fall into the lightless unknown.

 

Pillars is available for pre-order from Invictus at the Bandcamp page linked below. I’ve included a stream of the previously released track “De Aeterno Praesentia” along with our premiere.

 

Pre-order at Bandcamp:
https://invictusproductions666.bandcamp.com/album/apologoethia

Apologoethia:
https://www.facebook.com/Apologoethia-140480003235444

Invictus Productions:
http://www.invictusproductions.net
https://www.facebook.com/InvictusProductions