French export Glorior Belli became critical darlings two years ago after the release of the powerful Manifesting The Raging Beast. The praise was deserved; although they stayed closer to traditional black metal than experimental countrymates Deathspell Omega the album offered a well-lit and immaculately produced pathway to Hell. Of course the inevitable question is whether their third album Meet Us At The Southern Sign finds them making an even bigger leap into black metal royalty.The answer is a qualified yes.
While Meet Us At The Southern Sign seems to lack that special something that made Manifesting so impulsively listenable it’s still better than most black metal on the market. The strongest tracks would fit well on the last album. “Once In A Blood Red Moon,” is vintage Glorior Belli, a churning number with a beefy, leaden riff. Infestvvs’ voice soars throughout, and the music devolves into rancor near the close. “The Forbidden Words” is reminiscent of 1349 before they turned avant-garde.
Infestvvs gives an inspired vocal performance throughout, often exuding as much force and expression as Arioch of Funeral Mist, although the spoken word vocals on “In Every Grief-Stricken Blues,” seem out of place. “Fivefold Thought,” has moments of classic black metal battling with staunch power chords.
The only quibble is that this album veers too often into musical numbers; while the music is well-written it lacks power with Infestvvs on the sideline. Glorior Belli hasn’t found a way to properly incorporate samples; they often seem like an afterthought rather than an organic piece of the music. There also wasn’t a song that grabbed me nearly as much as “From Darkness There Springs Light,” on Manifesting, which I could replay a half-dozen times before listening to the rest of the album.
Meets Us At The Southern Sign finds Glorior Belli in roughly the same spot where they were in 2007, which isn’t a bad place. They haven’t matched their last record, but are still far ahead of their blackened peers.
Find more articles with 2009, Candlelight Records, Glorior Belli, Justin M. Norton, Review
Comments
Leave a Reply
amazing that something this bluesy and Southern is coming out of France, of all places.
really like the sound of this but I generally like my black metal to be fast and nasty or atmsopheric and melodic. for instance I found the majority of The Black’s new album to be mid-tempo and gloomy, nothing I haven’t heard before. but the twang and groove on this makes it something special.
on Oct 9th, 2009 at 09:14This album is much better than Manifesting…. in my opinion. However, “O’Laudet Dominus” is BY FAR their best output. BY FAR. Have you heard it ?
on Oct 9th, 2009 at 12:47Yup, heard it. I like all their stuff but still favor “Manifesting” above all. It just has such a powerful sound and memorable riffs.
on Oct 9th, 2009 at 12:52bit of an old review since this has been in my turntable for months but this band is on their way to untouchable.
on Oct 9th, 2009 at 20:31