Miserere Luminis Archives - NO CLEAN SINGING

MISERERE LUMINIS – SIDERA

Mar 052026

(Andy Synn encourages you to embrace the mellifluous black magic of Miserere Luminis)

I have no problem at all acknowledging that one thing I’m not great at is making predictions… or, at least, a certain kind of prediction.

There have been bands that I was sure would see massive success who have continued to labour in obscurity for years after what should have been their break-out moment, just as there have been bands who have suddenly blown up out of nowhere… even though that’s exactly where I expected them to go.

But while I’m not all that good at prophesying future fame and success (honestly, I’m not even sure what “success” looks like for bands these days, as most of the old metrics have been rednered obsolete) I like to think I’m at least pretty good at scrying out those albums, regardless of genre, that have the requisite depth and potency to have real staying power.

And Sidera is definitely one of them.

SHADES OF BLACK: LUNAR AMULET, MISERERE LUMINIS, FYRNASK, BLACK EDIFICE, KASM

Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 2 Responses »

Dec 212025

(written by Islander)

Today is the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere. I suppose everyone knows its astronomical significance — that it is a day of transition between the year’s shortest and darkest day into a period of increasing daylight. That is the source of its symbolic and spiritual significance, an annual representation of rebirth that human beings in far-flung cultures have commemorated and celebrated since prehistory.

But obviously, the overnight change doesn’t happen dramatically. Where I live in the Seattle area, on this shortest day of the year the sun will rise at 7:55 a.m. and set at 4:20 p.m., bringing eight hours, 25 minutes, and 25 seconds of daylight — though the term “daylight” is misleading because the skies will be deep gray and sodden. Daylight hours will begin to grow longer, but at first very slowly, only a matter of seconds per day. By the spring equinox in March the change will peak at around three and a half minutes per day.

Apart from how gradually the change occurs, the days will actually seem darker because we will experience less and less twilight as we move through January and February, twilight being the time of day when the sun is just below the horizon, before sunrise and after sunset. Here at this northern latitude, we will actually lose about 10 minutes total of twilight (five minutes on each end) between New Year’s and the vernal equinox. On top of that, January is historically the coldest and cloudiest month of the year. Continue reading »

CICATRICES: GRIS CELEBRATE A DECADE OF SILENCE (Interview)

Interviews 1 Response »

Apr 082024

L-R Neptune, Icare

(We welcome to our pages Jon Rosenthal, who brings us a very special and extensive interview with the duo behind the Québec band Gris on the 10th anniversary of Gris‘ latest album À L’âme Enflammée, L’Äme Constellée….)

Gris‘ music has been with me for a long time. Seventeen years ago, I first heard their debut (under the Gris banner, having been previously named Niflheim) Il était une forêt…, and nothing had quite struck my sad teenage self like the work of these two Quebecois musicians. Morose, complex songwriting, mammoth ambience, and absolutely throat-rending vocals all find a home in this album. It’s glorious, even now, and unraveling the mystery behind these two low-profile artists, multi-instrumentalists Neptune and Icare, has been both delightful and inspiring.

Initially lumped in with “depressive/suicidal black metal” (heretofore referred to as DSBM), Gris‘ music dealt more with the balance of joy and despair, to the point where a logo of theirs even featured plus and minus symbols to really drive the point home, rather than wallowing in the latter. You’d never guess it, though, especially due to Icare‘s vocals, especially on Il était une forêt… (I later found out that, yes, he did, in fact, harmonize his screams in a melodic sense, too, but I digress). Unlike DSBM, though, Gris‘ music is compelling, featuring dense harmonies, practiced and thoughtful chord progressions, and a very deliberate songwriting approach that, while other DSBM bands revel in minimalism, maximizes on the space it occupies, revealing an inner depth to their music that many might not catch upon first listen. To think this was the work of two Canadian teenagers still baffles me, honestly. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jul 062023

(Andy Synn presents four albums from the last month – or so – that you may have overlooked)

What is there to say about today’s selection of albums – which run the gamut from Hardcore to Black Metal to Death Metal to Doom – beyond the fact that you really should check them all out?

Well, hopefully a lot, because otherwise this is going to be a fairly short (and boring) article!