Thursday, November 21, 2019

WORDS OF DARKNESS...

Born under the vast skies of the Norfolk countryside, in the solitude of the secretive wetlands to the echoes of the curlew’s haunting cry, And Now The Owls Are Smiling explore the beauty of nature and the beauty in melancholy, the forests of the mist shrouded past and the dark forests of the human heart. New album, The Comforting Grip Of Misery is sweeping and majestic, an autumn wind rushing across the fenlands and through the gnarled and mighty oaks, but also intensely intimate; sweetly summoning up the spectres of sadness and weaving them into bitter sweet vistas of memory, tapestries of treasured tears woven with the words that meant more to you than any others you have heard or spoken. The trembling melodies of ‘The Comforting Grip Of Misery’ draw you through the valleys of the scars upon your heart, while the bewitching simplicity of ‘Winter’s Elegy’ draws you back into a past you have forgotten to remember.

 Wherever you may be, the music of Arx Atrata can open a window onto a moment of hope and clarity. The atmospheric black metal sounds of new album The Path Untravelled bring vast, unspoilt vistas to your mind, cold, cleansing winds to your heart. The enormity of creation is painted across the canvas of your imagination in the sweeping strokes of guitar, the intimacy of personal experience in the golden threads of melody that weave their way through the rush of power, settling in the shadowed glades of reflection between the cascading riffs. For those who yearn for substance and meaning, songs like the album’s overwhelming title track can reconnect you to the vital heart of all things, reinvigorate the soul and take you riding upon the winds of imagination. Previous Arx Atrata albums have been hailed by the critics, with Zero Tolerance commenting on the “frozen beauty and lavish texture” of 2013s Oblivion and Terrorizer calling 2016s Spiritus In Terra “an absolute delight”. With The Path Untravelled, Ben Sizer, the man behind the Arx Atrata name, has unveiled even more of the qualities that have delighted fans and reviewers so far on his journey. He has dug deeper, reached further and dreamed in even more vibrant colours to create something truly special. 

 Rending The Veil Of Flesh sees Formicarius cutting deep into the bloody centuries of Christianity and as they  spread their demon wings lyrically, so has their music become richer and darker, painted in a thousand layers, the many hued colours of twilight. To perfect their musical visions Formicarius have called upon fellow dwellers in perdition. The inversion of the divine that is ‘Early Will I Seek Thee’ is bookended by a dread invocation from Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) and the plaintive violin playing of Nicholas Miller of Aklash. Throughout the album the mighty drumming of Kevin Paradis (Benighted) propels each grand and glorious track forward like machines of war. To set the final seal upon this new tome of defiance, Formicarius turned to Parlour Studios (Dimmu Borgir, Samael, Venomous Concept etc) for the final mix and mastering.


AND NOW THE OWLS ARE SMILING - THE COMFORTING GRIP OF MISERY
ARX ATRATA - AN UNDYING VERSE
FORMICARIUS - EARLY WILL I SEEK THEE


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