Those of us who have followed Icelandic metal (particularly black metal) have by now become used to seeing videos that incorporate that country’s dramatic and desolate landscapes, and the video we’re presenting today also features panoramas of equally dramatic and desolate terrains blanketed in snow and ice — but these scenes come from a different and lesser-known land. The video also includes a narrative, a surreal one in which a troubled man, hood up, searches for and encounters the undulating and eventually still form of a woman with roses for eyes.
The song accompanied by the video is also surreal and dramatic, one that creates an alchemy of differing ingredients — from atmospheric black metal to doom, from coldwave to industrial and dark folk — to fashion its own mysterious, dark, and desperate narrative. That song, “Brûle, Prairie De Roses“, appears on the new third album by Stromptha, which is the solo project vocalist/musician J, a native of Greenland who has returned there after a sojourn in France. Entitled Endura Pleniluniis, the record will be co-released by Satanath Records (Russia) and Pest Records (Romania) on March 24th.
Endura Pleniluniis was originally self-released under title Endura as a demo in 2019, though it has been remastered for this new CD edition. It consists of two parts – “CAPITULUM I: CONSOLAMENT” (tracks 1-3), which is described as “an original Atmospheric Black Metal where shadows of Doom and Ambient haunt and freeze”, and “CAPITULUM II: TRESPASSAMENT” (tracks 4-6), described as “a more Avant-Garde style where Cold Wave and Post-Punk shadows haunt the experience”. “Brûle, Prairie De Roses” is one of the tracks in “CAPITULUM II“.
The press materials for this new album make reference to The Cure, Midnight Odyssey, Type O Negative, and Blut Aus Nord, and you can understand why when you listen to the song in the video.
Across the bottom of it, a changing array of drum patterns and both moody and vibrant bass notes work their hooks in physically arresting fashion. Anchored by all those variable yet compulsive beats, Strompha layers in searing and shimmering synths (both harrowing and hypnotic, both anguished and sublime), bright lilting guitars with a post-punk feel, ravaging riffs, and swirling, seductive keyboard arpeggios (among other things). The vocals vary considerably as well, ranging from gloomy baritone recitals to deep growls, from scorching shrieks to singing (which effectively carries one of the track’s principal melodic hooks).
There’s nerve-wracking intensity in the music, yet just as frequently it also proves to be mesmerizing.
Credit for the engrossing film goes to Olga Kann and Nokt Aeon. Satanath and Pest Records will release the album in a jewel-case CD edition with a 6-page booklet. Pre-order via the links below, and also check out a previously released song named “Le Passage Aux Fleurs“, along with our video premiere.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat283-stromptha-endura-pleniluniis-2020
https://pestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/stromptha-endura-pleniluniis
STROMPTHA:
https://www.facebook.com/stromptha/
TRACK LIST:
01. De Sang Et De Brouillard
02. Au Bout Du Tunnel: La Nuit Et La Neige
03. Que Les Corbeaux Forgent La Tempête
04. Le Passage Aux Fleurs
05. Brûle, Prairie De Roses
06. Quand Le Cornu Moissonera
Length – 56:21