I’m always down for some French black metal on the always reliable Antiq Records. That said, the last releases I dug into were the non-French act, Belnejoum, and the harrowing semi-French depressive black metal of Enterre Vivant.

Both enjoyable, but not the usual regal, medieval-sounding French black metal I have come to expect from the label, as well as a couple of purely instrumental/Dungeon Synth acts in W​ÿ​nt​ë​r Ärvń,  Ornit, and Le Cercle du Chêne of late (kudos for them for branching out a bit though). Though I haven’t quite fully delved into the label’s last effort before this release, Au Loin‘s self-titled effort.

That brings me to Eminentia Tenebris (eminence of darkness), a French duo consisting of Cryo (all instruments) and Erroiak (vocals), both veterans of numerous other black metal bands, but none of which I am familiar with. They play a form of melodic and atmospheric/ symphonic black metal, though the symphonics aren’t full-on bombast or theatric, but more a subtle layering, leaving the atmospheric side as the more prominent style.

But when the synths do kick in, they are pretty enjoyable, such as the nice little brass sections in “Through Chaos and Shadow” and “Embers of Glory”. But for the most part, this is a pretty tempered style of black metal that’s more reliant on atmospherics and mood delivered shrill, melodic tremolo picked riffs more akin to a band like Lightlorn or Numeron, or even some of those early/mid 90 black/death melodic acts like The Embraced,  Sacramentum, Embracing, though they never quite match those levels of top notch melodicism for me.

Still, the album is solid, and provides a few moments of starry beauty, namely as mentioned above, or “Marching as One” or bouncy standout closer, “Time’s Cruel Reign” when some of the ‘brassy’, but still subtle keyboards kick in a little more. In fact, the album’s second half is definitely where some of the tracks capture my attention a little more, maybe due to more keyboards? Knowing me, probably.

That all said, I can’t say I’m fully enamored with the album. It’s solid to OK, and has a few nice tracks, but like the Belnejuom, it’s nothing I’m clamoring for or craving. But that is partly due to the expectations the label has set with releases from the likes of Véhémence, Hyver, Moisson Livide, Passéisme, Tour d’Ivoire and such.

[Visit the band's website]

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