(We present Daniel Barkasi’s evocative review of a new album by the Czech band Inferno, which will be released on July 17th by Debemur Morti Productions.)
If you search for a band named Inferno on Encyclopedia Metallum, you’ll unsurprisingly get a lot of results. All of these are not created equal, of course. When we think of a band of that name, there’s only one that comes straight to mind – the gnostic black metal Inferno hailing from Czechia.
Having been in existence for over three decades, their works speak for themselves, though they’ve experienced quite a musical metamorphosis over those years. Earlier releases were much more straightforward second-wave black metal with a certain rawness and regional authenticity that added to their proverbial charm. A hint of a more expansive direction could be sniffed out on Black Devotion in certain aspects, but that change truly came to fruition on the nightmarish Omniabsence Filled by His Greatness in 2013, a record filled with dreary, unpredictable atmospheres resembling a thick fog that gives no chance of seeing anything but nothingness.
From that release, Inferno have been wildly experimental, carving out a truly singular sound and presence, not unlike contemporaries Blut Aus Nord, Cult of Fire, and a select few others. They also don’t tinker for the sake of it – the upper crust quality of each release exemplifies creative zeal to a level that few achieve.
Their previous full-length, 2021’s Paradeigma (Phosphenes of Aphotic Eternity), was at the least as frightening and disconcerting as any record we’ve heard since then (Hasard’s two albums and Blut Aus Nord’s Disharmonium – Nahab are also in that conversation). The expectations we have for Inferno at this juncture are a high level of detail and uniqueness, with the actual sonic direction a relative question mark.
With all that exposition, we’re here to speak of the latest chapter in Inferno’s story, The Anthropic Sophisms (On the Heights of Despair). A title that screams optimism. We kid, of course – only total existential dread will do here, and that’s exactly what Inferno have conjured, of course in a manner that’s wholly them and fundamentally extraordinary.
Photo by Necrohorns
If Paradeigma tickled your fancy, you’ll be overjoyed by the mystical manifestations Inferno have provided on The Anthropic Sophisms. If you think they couldn’t get any more horrifically deranged – think again. This record would be a natural fit on the soundtrack to a slow, torturous descent into the fiery pits of utter damnation.
The tone-setting opus “Fission of the Soul” is an exercise in extreme rhythmic mania, embracing suffocating reverberations to surround the listener with gnarled, perplexing sounds that take a plethora of elements and combine them to form an unstoppable force. That said, this isn’t a smattering of random sounds – Inferno are calculated to the finest sliver of detail. This cut advances carefully but steadily, ratcheting the tension upward, morphing into oddly catchy and deliciously groovy segments. The infectious guitar rhythms build upon what came previously with a slow but always nimble beat. The vocals hover in the center of the mix, adding further horror via Adramelech’s monstrous presence and seething tonality.
The track slows to set up the groove-laden, punishing final stretch – the rhythmic guitar pattern is intoxicating, and with Adramelech’s inhuman roars driving the point home. The drums equate to a constant source of thunderous magnificence, and the keyboard bits add that enveloping atmosphere that Inferno have mastered.
That’s one song folks, and the ride gets more calamitous and unpredictable.
“Dekranos Katexochen (Mých smrtí je bezpočet, mých nemocí mnoho)” opens with a lumbering doom trajectory – at least tempo-wise – opening the door for purviews from other maniacal angles of the musical spectrum. Unsettling would be a single word to choose as a descriptor, but it’s more than that (and we can never settle upon a single descriptive term). The Anthropic Sophisms as a whole is a celestial journey into the places in the universe where one really shouldn’t want to be, but the allure both as a whole and on this piece is too much to resist.
Around the fourth minute, proceedings move to a steady gallop, injecting a vial of adrenaline into the mixture without jettisoning the ominous bleakness already established. It’s satisfying at a primal level to witness how each song delicately twists down its well-laid but fluctuating mannerisms, rendering one ultimately helpless with a savage bit of climactic fury.
The second half of The Anthropic Sophisms continues to sew chaos by way of “With Raving Mouths They Utter Things Mirthless, Unadorned and Unperfumed” – a cut that may be the oddest of the four, and as such, one of the most enduring. Budding electronics and staticky ambience swell, with booming percussive thumps seemingly moving closer with each beat, applying the theme that, according to Adramelech, deals with the idea of the multiverse and the limitless possibilities it offers, done so in trademark Inferno fashion.
When the wall of sound hits, it’s the likely audible equivalent to being sucked into a violent vortex; cinematic in scope as the piece breeds unrivaled tension by the breadth of many layers of sound coming together to squeeze like a vice, but also offering brief glimmers of possibility through the track’s shifting moods. Not as acrimonious as the previous two entries, though just as peculiar and remarkably textured.
The last act is the barbarous “Circulus Vitiosus Deus (The Infinity Ravages All)” to ruthlessly showcase the uncivilized, brutal side of the cosmos and existence, which the band stated in the promotional materials represents mankind as “a mere footnote in the work of spontaneous creation without end.” If a more grim way of making such a philosophical statement exists, these ears haven’t heard it – “Circulus Vitiosus Deus” is the most severe composition on offer, but again, the lively and agile guitar work swirls like noxious fumes seeping into every pore. Inescapable and so damn powerful, leaving the now ravaged, despondent listener obliterated in complete totality.
Through my many playthroughs, we studied the cover artwork of Dávid Glomba, which is equally as complex and stimulating as the music; truly a more than worthy visual accompaniment to a record with seemingly unlimited depth. It goes to show that the steady hand of a true visual artist will always go a long way in enhancing the audible experience.
Admittedly, it’s rather obvious when an album completely enraptures this writer to the point of consistent, unending praise that’s often spat out in these halls. We do always seek constructive points to suggest improvement upon, but frankly, there isn’t a single tiny component out of place on The Anthropic Sophisms. The craftsmanship is so mathematically precise, and the adept sense of what needs to be played and when is instinct that can’t be taught, but instead ingrained in the very best creators.
Immerse yourself into the cataclysmic convulsions that this record has laid bare, as The Anthropic Sophisms is transformative, coming from a band who has been at the very top echelon of quality in extreme music for some time now.
The Heart of Winter festival next January can’t come soon enough.
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https://pureinferno.bandcamp.com/album/the-anthropic-sophisms-on-the-heights-of-despair