A largely underestimated band from Poland, to my opinion, was Iugulatus. At the beginning of this decade, this horde release a limited number of intriguing albums, and shortly after the finishing of Satanic Pride, singer Balrog and drummer Wojtass decided to quit in order to focus on Slain. The remaining members, however, wanted to go on, so they continued, be it as Architect Of Disease. We’re talking about the year 2012.
With a somewhat adapted line-up, Architect Of Disease came up with a first album, released under the moniker A.O.D., which was called Open The Hearts. I truly liked that one (see: http://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/aod). That review also contains some additional information about the members, so I’d like to refer to that one in case of interest.
Anyway, shortly after, the band recorded some new material, which was engineered by Pawel Drozd (think Doomster Reich, Deep Desolation) and mixed by Dominik Burzym (Whorehouse, Planet Hell, Mind Affliction, Mord‘A’Stigmata, Iblis etc.) in Autumn 2015. Unfortunately it was not released back then; it took until August 2017, once again being available via The End Of Time Records. The Eerie Glow Of Darkness gets released in a very ‘black’ four-panel digipack, which includes the lyrics, being written by new vocalist Martinous, who used to work with Deep Desolation in the past.
The album consists of eight tracks, clocking about forty-six minutes. To my opinion, it goes even further than the former album, Open The Hearts, in an evolved way, yet still with those remarkable and typifying aspects of that debut. But I’ll first focus on the production, and that one is truly nice. The mix consists of nicely balancing elements, with all members’ contributions represented equally. All lead and rhythm instruments and vocals are of great importance to the little eccentric play of Architect Of Disease, and with this sound quality they all deserve what they are worth of. Besides, the total experience comes with a full, voluptuous, even decadently fat noise, massive and bombastic.
All tracks come with a characteristic identity, which typifies the distinct approach of this band, compared to the grey masses. It’s like a timeless form of Death Metal-injected Black Metal, penetrated with elements from the Post-trend, and specified with a discordant twist. Let’s take the drum parts, for example. Drummer Apocalypse has a unique play, experimenting with progressive and even psychedelic structures. He’s quite unique in his play. Also the string sessions, both the lead parts as the supporting ones, reveal an anti-trendy, quirky approach in execution. The lead guitar riffs play an important role, for they create that Post-Black atmosphere, hypnotic and, at the same time, ominous and disturbing. Within the solos, I hear a sort of tribute to the nastiest aspects of the Old School too – cf. that solo at the end of Cycle Of Change or in Eerie Glow, which are a purely bathorian fantasy, or the mayhemic flavor within several riffage moments… The rhythm string session support the dissonant riffing textures with an unstoppable and invincible energy. And then you have those vocals of the new ‘singer’, coming from two angles: ultra-grim and toxic screams filled with acid and venom at the one hand, or a rougher, somewhat soaring throat-spitting voice at the other hand. I do not think it is that weird to refer to Attila Csihar at all…
In general, the tempo lies quite high, varying from mid-tempo to lightning fast. It marks a malicious fierceness, a convinced will to conquer, from the band. Yet the vigor should do as well with the sound (see higher) and the totality, the complexity of the different elements. The equilibrium of a dissonant performance and a certain traditional basement, which sort of comes with a black’n’thrash’n’punk’n’roll demeanor, along with the variation in structure and speed, are like a trademark for the grooving and imaginative madness gathered under the flag of The Eerie Glow Of Darkness. And on top of it, the band makes use of a very limited yet quite impressive and important use of synth effects; listen, for example, to those weird tones in Illumination Of Abyss.
The Eerie Glow Of Darkness is a logic continuation of Open The Heart, stepping farther away from the Iugulatus roots, and standing out further and further from the average. Every single track, without exception, is a wayward experience with many complex details to decipher. This might be like an ideal soundtrack for the end of time (got it?)…