Veneror are a project from Italy that debuts with Percussimus Foedus Cum Morte via Dutch label New Era Productions. The trio brings, with this studio release, a personal and timeless form of melodic Underground Black Metal with a grim, occult atmosphere and an eerie, freezing sound. An Italian band indeed… (I cannot, and will not, ignore my passion for the Italian scene). First the artwork: what a great cover design!
Then the album. Percussimus … opens with an intro that reminds me to an act like Summoning, yet as from The Wings Of The Daimon Sethos on, Veneror bring fast, melodic, rhythmic, obscure, mythic and hypnotic Black Metal. The bio compares the music to the likes of Necromass, Altar Of Perversion and Mortuary Drape, and that’s correct, but what about the German, Finnish, Dutch, Swedish and, especially Norwegian scene (a.m.m.)? The epic acoustic intermezzo / transition in between The Wings … and Conclaves Of Blest Carnality, for example, could have been part of Satyricon’s Dark Medieval Times. The production too comes with that wonderful Nordic sound, and so are the performance and song structures: respectively persuasive and technically nihilistic. It’s both primal and advanced, both destructive and constructive, both hateful and loving, both atmospheric and underworldly, both timeless and old-schooled. It’s pure, it’s rather simplistic and primitive yet honest, it’s a tribute to the Horned One and his crew from Six Six Six feet under, but it’s a me-like!
Sargeist + Forgotten Woods + Ungod + Necrodeath + Taake + Horna + Burzum + Draugen + … Let’s praise the Goat, let’s honour the Beast!