The Sicilian band Malauriu have been a prolific source of black metal and dark experimental sounds for almost a decade. As detailed in an interview of mainman Schizoid published here at the beginning of 2022, Malauriu have tended to release their music mainly through EPs and splits. In March of this year they departed from the tradition by releasing their second (self-titled) full-length, but they now return to shorter works with a new EP named De Natura Obscuritatis that’s set for release in mid-September by the Italian label Black Mass Prayers.
To help spread the word about this new EP, today we premiere a song from it named “The Locust“.
Malauriu isn’t a band that hems itself in with stylistic fences, and therefore experiencing their new releases is something of an adventure of discovery. They express a devotion to the roots of black metal in the ’90s, but have interwoven other genre ingredients, including (but not limited to) hypnotic ambient elements that help create chilling occult atmospherics.
The song you’re about to hear, “The Locust“, is in many ways profoundly disturbing yet also frighteningly spellbinding.
The opening riff, heavily distorted, immediately creates a dismal and hopeless mood. As it groans, growls, and wails, the guitar reverberates in a way that makes it sound supernatural as well as emotionally crushing. The drums lurk behind those scathing tones, providing a feral pulse to the song, while crypt-born screams, horrid roars, and cruel serrated-edge pronouncements magnify the terrors in the music.
The music heaves and staggers forward like some hellish leviathan paving the way toward catastrophe, yet the song paradoxically casts a spell despite its dire and abrasive lo-fi sounds, especially when piercing melodic solos rise in riveting (albeit blood-freezing) fashion, as if crying out in despair.
The experience consumes the senses with its subterranean eeriness. What light shines from it is phosphorescent and sulfurous, and like a plague of the creatures for whom the track is named, it seems to promise nothing but misery. Not for naught did Malauriu choose a name for themselves which is a Sicilian word meaning “ill omen”.
Malauriu is:
Felis Catus – Vocals, Keyboards, Guitars
Schizoid – Guitars, Bass
Marbas – Drums
De Natura Obscuritatis was recorded between Phonoputìa Studio, Carcossea Cave, and Schizoid Lair during the first semester of 2022’s. It features cover art and layout by Azmeroth Szandor (who also created Malauriu‘s logo). The EP will be released by Black Mass Prayers on September 15th, and it’s available for pre-order now.
PRE-ORDER:
https://blackmassprayers.bandcamp.com/album/de-natura-obscuritatis
MALAURIU:
https://malauriu.bandcamp.com/album/malauriu
https://www.facebook.com/malauriuofficial