Adamus Exul were formed in 2008 by Patrick ‘A.Exul / Araloth’ Cook, a young Australian guy who used part of the Perseverance line-up for a couple of years as well. The band, named after a tragedy written by Dutch poet / writer / philosopher / jurist / historicus Hugo ‘Grotius’ De Groot (17th century), released a first album at the end of 2010, called Death, Paint A Vision (I do like the title!), and now, after a depressing hiatus of over three years, Adamus Exul (with a completely renewed line-up) return with the sophomore full length, Arsenic Idols. In mean time, the band signed to the fabulous Italian label Aeternitas Tenebrarvm Mvsicae Fvndamentvm (which also houses excellent sub-labels De Tenebrarum Principio, A Sad Sadness Song and I,Voidhanger Records!), which will take care of the release.
Arsenic Idols consists of seven tracks that, with exception of the intro, last in between five and eleven minutes (bringing the total running time to almost fifty minutes). The material stands for a technically high-skilled and enormously intense form of timeless Black Metal. The Underground-laden stuff comes with lots of breaks and tempo-changes, yet with a focus on deadly high-speed assaults. The unlighted attitude and raw sound give Arsenic Idol a certain flair of post-occult obscurity, with that evident (read: necessary) misanthropic and psychopathic atmosphere that caresses ones eardrums.
A remark, however, be made: the lack of variation in between the faster parts. Especially the semi-blasting pieces come with an almost-irritative drum pattern that lacks of aural intelligence, and an unpleasant nervous guitar sound, having me wanting to press the fast-forward button once in a while.
But the interaction with mid-tempo to even slow passages denigrates any negative emotion. That’s fine, and a must, for tracks with such a lengthy duration (see higher) do need this balance and diversification.
Consider it a mixture of Gorgoroth, Setherial, Deathspell Omega and Baltak.