Satyricon - Deep Calleth Upon Deep (Napalm Records) 2017
7
Ever amorphous and ever evolving, on their ninth album Satyricon ply their well-established black ‘n’ roll with a menacing experimentation well acquainted with the left hand path. The brass section on the aptly titled “Dissonant” lends the meandering, jazz-tainted tome a seething disquietude while the overtly melodic guitars and operatic vocals of “The Ghost of Rome” imbue it with an uncomfortable sense of unexpected hope and optimism which threatens to evaporate at any moment.
Meanwhile morsels of conventional darkness can be found in the brooding “To Your Brethren in the Dark”. Deep Calleth Upon Deep evokes a startlingly nefarious atmosphere which emanates from its repeated introduction of the unfamiliar; once again, this Norwegian duo have completely rewritten the black metal rulebook.