(Below you will find Comrade Aleks’ very engaging discussion with the humble founder of the French epic black metal band Eminentia Tenebris, whose latest album, their fourth, was released last year by Antiq Records.)
We always do our best to follow new releases and present our readers the most actual and up-to-date information, but life is life and it’s difficult to cover all releases we receive. So I found the digital promo of Eminentia Tenebris’ album Whispers of the Undying in the corner of my desktop. I immediately recognized the album’s cover art, as it looks like a manifest, it’s very metal to the degree of cliché, yet it’s remarkable and solid. Thus finally I paid proper attention to this album and enjoyed it a lot with its epic and cinematic black metal.
It could be a nostalgic vibe of some songs or their refreshing breath, but I believe that the decision to do an interview with Cryo, Eminentia Tenebris’ founder, was a right one.
Hi Cryo! How are you? What’s new on Eminentia Tenebris’ side?
Hi Aleks! After the release of Whispers of the Undying last July, I’ve been quite busy with side projects, such as my brother’s melodic French black metal one-man band, Obscurité. We recorded two albums at my place, including Néant, which came out in 2025, and very recently the next one, which will be released at the end of the year.
That, plus my contribution to Hrad leads me to tell you that I simply have nothing new to report on the Eminentia Tenebris front for now!
Honestly, I found nothing about Obscurité in metal-archives. Is it such a deep-underground thing?
Yet the project is indeed present on Metal Archives:
https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Obscurit%C3%A9/3540388869
There have been five albums since its creation in 2014; I highly recommend a listen for any fan of pagan melodic black metal.
Damn… I made a typo probably when I was searching it. At least I know their live bass-player – Moomoot from Presumption and Father Merrin. However, your up-to-date album Whispers of the Undying was released almost one year ago, do you already have any new songs in the work?
I actually started composing music again recently, but this time it’s for my second solo project, Black Light Era. My goal is to bring it back to life, five years after the first and only demo released in 2021. This is both an opportunity for me to improve my music production/DAW skills and to offer something musically darker.
What are the primal differences between Eminentia Tenebris and Black Light Era, as both were started as your solo black metal projects? Why can’t you express both kind of energies through one vessel?
Eminentia Tenebris’s ambition is truly to achieve a warlike and epic cinematic dimension by using keyboards in abundance. For Black Light Era, I’m looking to create something more traditional and old-school within the black metal universe.
Cryo, you started Eminentia Tenebris as a solo project in 2020 and there are already four albums in its discography, a good score indeed. What was your initial idea when you started the project?
The initial idea was, on one hand, to offer epic, melodic, and atmospheric Black Metal, and on the other hand, to simply succeed in bringing an album to fruition despite my self-professed amateur status in the world of music creation.
Therefore, the first two albums can be considered demos, as they were made using GarageBand and “mixed” by myself in a rather questionable way.
The second one, Through the Deepest Skies, benefited from a mastering graciously done by Fog (Cénotaphe, etc.), who also designed the Eminentia Tenebris logo. Unfortunately, since the mix was poor, the album couldn’t be saved audio-wise by his intervention!
The third one was also made via GarageBand (on an iPad!), but this time I reached out to someone who has since become a friend and collaborator, as well as the mastermind behind Hrad: namely, Septev.
Later on, I acquired a modest home studio, which now allows me to fully thrive and is even pushing me to learn mixing and mastering techniques!
As you mentioned, at the same time, you take part in another black metal band Hrad, and I guess that 2025 was a busy year for you. Do Eminentia Tenebris and Hrad have something in common besides your and Erroiak’s participation?
With the release of their debut album The Forgotten Legacy (which followed their initial EP), Hrad blew me away with the emotional intensity contained in their music. So, I wanted to find out more about the members behind the project, and that’s when I discovered that Septev handled the mixing/mastering of their music himself. I decided to take a shot and asked for his services as a sound engineer for Eminentia Tenebris’ third album, Rise of a New Kingdom, while expressing how much I loved their album.
From there, a friendship was born, and he later asked me to record lead guitar on the last Hrad album, which I accepted. For the next one, which should be out shortly, I even recorded all of the electric guitars (except for the solos) based on Septev’s compositions, to which I added my personal touch!
But to answer your question on what links Eminentia Tenebris and Hrad, it is obviously their epic/melodic approach, charged with emotion. To me, that’s what is so pleasing in Black Metal, and iconic bands like Windir or Summoning are among those that appeal to me the most within this musical aesthetic.
So can we say that Windir and Summoning were the ideologic and aesthetic core of Eminenetia Tenebris to some degree? Can you mention some other, less obvious, influences we may hear in Whispers of the Undying?
Indeed, it was with the desire to approach the majesty of these two bands, among others, that I launched Eminentia Tenebris. The heroic fantasy and warlike aspect is something I really enjoy in general.
To name a few other influences, I can’t not mention the Swedish band In Flames, which I grew up with and which will always hold the most important place for me (ah, nostalgia). Albums like Subterranean, Lunar Strain, The Jester Race, Whoracle, Colony, and Clayman opened the gates of extreme metal for me when I was barely 10 years old, and made me want to create beautiful guitar melodies of my own (or so I hope).
Aside from that, I am obviously a fan of bands like Lord Belial, Sacramentum, Dissection, or even Mörk Gryning.
(Very happy to have been able to see Sacramentum and Mörk Gryning live, by the way!)
How scrupulous was your approach towards Whispers of the Undying’s mix and mastering?
Septev is the one who took care of it, because as far as I’m concerned, I’m only just starting to learn about these fields.
I think he did an excellent job; the result is very atmospheric and yet hard-hitting at the same time. He would send me each new version he got, and I would ask him to raise or lower this or that element. It was really pleasant working with him, and I thank him again for it.
How did you manage to lure Erroiak into Eminentia Tenebris? He takes part in so many bands, that it surprises me how he’s able to find time to one more?
When Rise of a New Kingdom came out in 2023, Erroiak immediately shared his enthusiasm for the album. He bought it and promoted it whenever he had the chance, which made me really happy. To this day, he still listens to it regularly by his own admission!
Then, fate stepped in, and I joined Hrad—the project in which he sings (and used to handle the electric guitar recordings). This made it a completely logical choice to approach him when I wanted to bring professional vocals to Eminentia Tenebris!
Furthermore, his style perfectly matched what I was looking for, so it came very naturally to ask him if he would agree to take on the role of vocalist in order to step up the quality of Eminentia Tenebris’ vocals. It was an immediate “yes” from him, without even listening to the new album, which was already musically ready.
You recorded all instruments on your own, how comfortable for you to work this way? Didn’t you search for extra help from outside to deal with some parts?
It’s very comfortable for me to work this way because music must first and foremost remain a pleasure, and it allows me to see how well I can manage on my own. In Eminentia Tenebris, the structures and the guitar playing are never very complicated. I am an amateur musician who plays by instinct without knowing anything about music theory—I’m not even able to name the chords I’m playing when I play them. So, that would probably make it complicated for me to fit into an actual band that plays live, for example.
(And when I record for Hrad on Septev’s tracks, I do it entirely by ear!)
I guess, this instinctive approach will work successfully until the day you’ll decide to record an album with orchestra and you’ll need scores for each musician! However, how far do your ambitions spread?
I’ve always been a very unambitious person in general; in fact, for a long time, I stagnated in mediocrity and alcohol addiction (now sober since 2020). Yet, life always seems to offer me more than I ever expected from it, so who knows where this will lead. It’s true that now that I have my life pretty much in order and some nice gear to use, I do have this desire to progress on a musical level. But I think there is still plenty of time before Eminentia Tenebris performs on stage at Wacken with a symphonic orchestra, Dimmu Borgir style!
What were the most difficult moments in the Whispers of the Undying recording?
It was the first album I was recording in my real home studio, so I had to relentlessly fight against technology! It was a constant struggle!
On the other hand, the composition process went very well; everything came to me rather naturally and smoothly. The guitar melodies, the harmonies, blastbeats on top, and keyboards to make the whole thing epic. Let’s pray that the same happens for the next one, now that I have a much better grasp of computer tools.
Whispers of the Undying’s epic artwork makes me think that there’s some concept behind the album. What did inspire you to turn to this kind of story? Is it connected with Eminentia Tenebris’ previous albums?
In the previous album, I had written very few lyrics, and they repeated throughout the songs (neither singing nor writing are my core talents). But this time, I wanted something more solid and complete, especially something that could fit a label like Antiq Records, which places a lot of importance on the conceptual aspect of its releases. This is how I described the concept of the album when it came out:
Through each song, the album invites the listener to follow the journey of a narrator acting as a hero/warlord in an immersive and introspective voyage where he is led to do battle. Loss, betrayal, and death are recurring themes, but always in a conquering and hopeful heroic fantasy mindset.
The narrator evolves throughout the album, moving from a triumphant protector to gradually becoming a tormented soul whose helplessness against the ravages of time pushes him to question everything at the moment of passing away.
Ultimately, the album questions the legacy we wish to leave to the world, and pays tribute to heroic figures as well as the power of nature, in front of which Man must know his place.
Was this story somehow illustrated in the CD’s booklet?
The booklet is beautiful; all the lyrics are listed, and visually, you can find elements from the artwork created by Rein van Oyen. I also have a lot of gratitude for this artist who knew exactly how to capture that retro, dark fantasy, vintage vibe I was looking for. The colors are sumptuous. I can’t understand how some people resort to using AI for their covers when affordable artists like him exist. So to answer your question, the booklet and the artwork more generally transcribe an atmosphere, a visual universe that I really wanted to attach to this new Eminentia Tenebris album.
Was Whispers of the Undying a concept album from a start? The songs’ lyrics were written by Daeris this time, why did you delegate this duty to her?
Yes, it is indeed a concept album, as mentioned before. Daeris is actually the woman I’ve shared my life with for 10 years. I asked her to accomplish this heavy task, and the idea to involve her came up because she has started writing a novel in English. Since I wanted to be able to focus exclusively on the music, it was a perfect opportunity!
So, I explained my vision for this album to her, and she set to work, showing an imagination and a sense of poetry that I don’t necessarily possess myself.
What are your plans for the rest of 2026?
To compose, and to finally try and make my music sound right all on my own!
Thanks for the interview Cryo! I guess that we covered all the main topics, but did we skip something important indeed?
Thank you very much for thinking of Eminentia Tenebris for an interview. As for the readers, I can only recommend keeping an eye out for the upcoming release concerning my brother’s project, Obscurité, as well as the new Hrad album, which should be out by the end of the year and to which I added my personal touch during the guitar recording. Let’s also hope for a new Black Light Era album to come in the near future. Regarding Eminentia Tenebris, it shall obviously rise again, too.
https://eminentiatenebris.bandcamp.com/
https://antiqofficial.bandcamp.com/album/whispers-of-the-undying