Despite containing members of the excellent Merrimack and Obscurus Advocam, French black metallers Glorior Belli are not quite in the French Elite, and actually share a sound more akin to Sweden’s Watain in that they play surprisingly restrained, straight forward, slightly repetitive but finely crafted black metal.

Even with crawling opener “From Darkness There Springs Light”, the title track and the aptly titled “Sinister Resonance” which are slower but relatively safe, more menacing numbers, the rest of the album is a fairly by the numbers delivery of misanthropic, primal yet polished black metal of distinctly corpse painted, Norwegian descent. There’s nothing here as mind altering as Deathspell Omega, as disturbing as Blud Aus Nord or even as creative or challenging mother bands as Merrimack and Obscurus Advocam; just solid often superficially ugly black metal such as “Severed From the Self”, “Said Lucifer in Twilight” and “Altered Verses”, but even then, it’s not as ugly and twisted as say Antaeus, Funeral Mist or Katharsis. It wants to be as nasty and hellish with tracks like “Serpentine Admonition” but never rises to the challenge, instead playing it rather safe and by the numbers-which isn’t all bad.

Even in my current black metal throes, Glorior Belli isn’t registering as highly as it seems it should despite being a solid album with plenty to offer the black metal fan, just don’t go looking for the next great French black metal act.

[Visit the band's website]

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