I love surprises, mainly good ones. And ones involving symphonic black metal bands I’ve never heard of before, who turn out to fucking brilliant, are even better.
Opus Irae hails from Germany, and Into The Endless Night is their debut album. It was mixed and mastered by Dan Swano, who needs no introduction, and the artwork is by Kristian Wåhlin (Emperor, Dissection, etc.), so they have some immediate credibility right off the bat. The album absolutely delivers as well.
Speaking of right off the bat, opener “The Burden of Man” gets right to it, no intro no build-up, just symphonic bombast and a nice little flute-y, melodic bridge within the first minute. My immediate comparison is 90s/00s stalwarts Hecate Enthroned, Anorexia Nervosa, Arthemesia and such as there are dual screeched/gruffer vocals, and the energetic pacing, but as the album keeps going, there is so much more here especially some of the just amazing little bridges and moments like in the opener that litter the album amid the symphonic bombast. There is definitely a little more of the Gothic vibe going on as well.
Other such cool moments that made the album an absolute delight are the choral/female vocal parts that end “Requiem Aeternam”, the flute and subsequent melodic gallop bridge, and the wonderfully uplifting close out of “The Battle at His Great Return”, the little classical music interplay in the otherwise blistering “The Vision of Resurrecting Flesh”, and the delightful duo of instrumental “Strict Canon in A Minor” and female only ballad “Lament”. A special mention to composer/keyboardist, ‘Nacht’, who really does give everything a more playful, bright gloss with his classical-inspired strings and piano.
After those two lovely numbers, we get “The Light of the Morning Star”, with a killer melodic main riff, and “Stream of Sorrow” where at 1:11 there is a cool little jaunt that makes me grin from ear to ear, and is one of the year’s most infectious moments for me. “War Everlasting”, starts with a more stern melodic death metal lurch before a gorgeous mid-song break that again highlights Nacht’s excellent work. “Furoris Irae” closes the album out with some spoken words from ‘Revelations 12:13′ and orchestral dramatics.
I thought Suffering Souls’ An Iconic Taste of Demise, would be the year’s best German Symphonic black metal album, but Into the Endless Night has come out of nowhere and might be one of my favorite symphonic black metal albums of the last couple of years, German or otherwise.
Oh, another surprise. These guys are a Christian band, but you more theological readers might have picked that up from some of the song titles and of course, the label, who are/have been home to Crimson Moonlight, Extol, and Antestor).
