AN NCS PREMIERE: BLACK SORCERY — “GASPING FOR LIGHT UNDER A PETRINE CROSS”

When we heard the first single from Black Sorcery‘s debut album Deciphering Torment Through Malediction it occurred to us that the album was very well-named. That song, “Erinyes Slough”, is unmistakably hateful, from the caustic lunacy of the shrieked vocals to the gut-plunder inflicted by the bassist and the rude corrosiveness of the brazen and roiling guitars. The snare drum keeps time like a metronome that’s still somehow functioning in the midst of a vicious riot.

In addition to being feral and malign, however, a feeling of torment does come through in the riffing, and about halfway through, the drums break their chains and the song transforms into a searing cataclysm that will swallow you up. There’s still something anguished about that electrifying convulsion, but a kind of medieval grandeur emerges as well. In other words, there are more facets to the track than you might guess at first.

Now we’ve got a second excerpt from this new album in advance of its July 28 release by Eternal Death, and it reinforces the impressions created by that first one — that the band’s fury is white hot, that they’re capable of sounding like they’re in the throes of demonic possession, but that they have an affinity for melody that seems like a time machine spun back to an ancient age.

“Gasping for Light Under a Petrine Cross” is the album’s first full song, following an intro track that sets the stage with sounds of swirling and surging water and a moody but entrancing acoustic guitar instrumental which seems born from the Middle Ages. And maybe, faintly in the background, demons are snarling.

With the stage thus set Black Sorcery go wild in “Gasping for Light…“, yet there’s a connection between the swirling and searing guitars which set that song on fire and the more sedate melody in the Intro. It’s part of what makes the song enthralling in addition to barbarous — but make no mistake, the song is barbarous. The bass thunders, the drums maniacally tumble and clobber, and the screamed vocals are a raging torrent of vitriolic acid.

The deranged crashing and boiling power of the music seems to straddle a vibrating line between fury and pain, between ecstasy and slaughtering savagery. Feral slashing chords and pounding percussion also create sensations of cruel imperiousness, and the furiously roiling guitars further seem to channel hopelessness in the midst of breathtaking turmoil.

No lie, the song is breathtaking, and even though it sounds like a non-stop riot, the execution is technically damned impressive, perhaps especially the jaw-dropping athleticism of the drumming, and those vocals are so unhinged they’ll make the hair stand up on your neck.

 

 

For a debut album it’s not such a shock that it’s so good, given that Black Sorcery‘s members hail from such past Rhode Island bands as Bog of the Infidel, Sangus, Nefarious, and Sorcery.

The record was recorded and mixed by Distorted Forest Studio, and it was mastered by Enormous Door Mastering. It features band logo and album cover art by Maegan LeMay, back cover and inlay design by Max Furst, and upturned chalice icon by Josh McAlear.

For more info, check the links below, and be sure to also check out that previously released single we discussed above.

PRE-ORDER:
https://eternaldeath.bandcamp.com/album/deciphering-torment-through-malediction

BLACK SORCERY:
https://blacksorcery93.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/blacksorcery93