Well, the follow-up is finally here, again broken up into ‘chants’, though this time there are 6 instead of seven (though the album is about the same length). But again, it’s a brilliantly furiously melodic take on layered, triumphant medieval black metal that is for fans of the aforementioned Véhémence as well as Carathis or  Sühnopfer.

Starting with “Azure Mockery Chant” and ending with “Prurient Flamboyance Chant” every track is an absolute scorcher of a number with little respite (the last moments of “Ominous Bravure Chant”  transitioning to the acoustic start to “Opulent Sepulchre Chant” being one of the few) in the chaotic, but still shimmering and rousingly harmonic assault. Vocalist Konstantine Koralev has a deeper throaty roar that’s off the beaten black metal path, and adds a little more roughness to the proceedings, while Ivan Markin is at times, mind-boggling in how busy yet still melodic the riffs are.

It all comes together for some ‘hard to air guitar along with’ brilliance (pity Guitar Hero isn’t a thing anymore, this would give Dragonforce a run for their money). I mean right out of the gate with the staggering opening arpeggios of “Azure Mockery Chant”, then follows it up with the initial punky sway of “Rhapsodic Annoyance Chant” (which turns into an absolute monster of a track later on) and then you get the stunning “Stubborn Zeal Chant”. its all so close to being overwhelmingly busy, but those shrill, triumphant medieval melodies (i.e “Opulent Sepulchre Chant”) keep you hooked if only to see where the song goes next.

Closer “Prurient Flamboyance Chant” is a standout track- the little melodic explosion around the 1:42 mark is just delectable and promotes immediate grim face and air guitar/bass playing. Then there is another fucking, different, but equally killer one at 3;18!.  it ends the album on such a gloriously high (and sudden) note and is one of my favorite albums of the year.

Loosely translating to ‘attachment to the past’, Passéisme is a trio from Russia that is surprisingly the dudes behind Swedish death metal lovers Wombripper. However, rather than HM 2 worshiping death metal, they play the same sort of heroic, triumphant, medieval black metal like label mates Véhémence (even sharing the same sort of heraldic cover art) and have delivered a killer, if short album of wonderfully French sounding melodic, atmospheric black metal that will appeal to fans of the aforementioned Véhémence as well as the likes of Forteresse,  Abduction and Sühnopfer.

The album is broken up into 7 ‘chants’ (Tribulation, Harvest, Austerity, Insolence, Parade, Splendour, Enlightenment), with one being the expected medieval, French spoken word, acoustic number (“Chant For Splendour”), the other 6 chants are all shrill, busy, layered melodic tracks of gorgeously chaotic black metal. The only sticking point might be the vocals, which are more of a death metal shout, than the expected black metal rasp or shriek. But I personally liked them, as they didn’t wear or grate after a while. The production is warm, with nice bottom end, but the shrill, layered guitars steal the show.

All six are killer numbers but in particular, “Chant for Harvest” with its haughty little jig/jaunty pace,  super busy chamber black metal of “Chant for Insolence”, rousing “Chant for Parade’ and the 10-minute closer “Chant For Enlightenment” with its abundance of killer, melodic riffs and atmospheric midsection, all standout. Again, it’s kinda cool and surprising that three death metal guys from Russia are behind this.

I really like what Antiq is doing. They have some variety on their roster but their better releases have locked into this heroic, knightly melodic, medieval sound that’s truly awesome when done as well as this, as Eminence is by far one of my favorite releases of 2021 so far.