Of Darkness is an unusual band in many respects. Its three members also play in such significantly better-known Spanish groups as Graveyard, Teitanblood, and Balmog, yet the earliest recordings from Of Darkness are at least as old as all of those. A glance at the Of Darkness discography suggests that although their recorded output has been scattered and unpredictable, something about it continues to exert a hold on their imaginations. Like an ember that grows so cold it might seem to have been extinguished, some new oxygen unexpectedly causes it to burn again.

But that’s just a start to what’s unusual. In addition, we’re told that the band never rehearse, and rather just improvise in the studio while recording. They composed, recorded, arranged, and mixed their new album Missa Tridentia in three days, which may make you wonder why eight years have elapsed since their last album, which in turn followed their first demos by a decade or more.

And then there’s the album credits, which recount that all three members contributed “orchestral arrangements”.

We might mention that their last album was also their first one — and that it was a tribute to the modern classical composer Krzysztof Penderecki, the author of such works as “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima” and an opera named The Devils of Loudun, as well as many sacred works — though the members of Of Darkness are themselves said to hold “extreme nihilistic beliefs”.

And to these facts we’ll add one more significant observation: Although it’s not out of place to consider their new album under the headings of “funeral doom” and “orchestral metal”, it’s far from a conventional example of either genre. Continue reading »