BÂ'A – Egrégore

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BÂ'A offers here his second album "Egrégore" with a sound always faithful to a Black Metal eager to be both traditional and nonetheless fitting perfectly into the current musical landscape. The lyrics and concept of the album are once again the backbone of the opus. Based on the principle of polarity resulting from the hermetic philosophy and on an interpretation of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the band offers here a reflection on Good and Evil as well as the reason for our presence down here below. The album contains six tracks.

“In Umbra et Luce” leads off the album. It opens with some lead guitars and eerie effects along with spoken words. The main riff drops, and it’s dark and screechy. Drums begin to roll and the song is layered with thick and angry sounds. It’s a slow and harrowing grind from there. “Domitor” features meaty and rich Black Metal out of the gates. There is so much chaos going on but the song retains a central theme. The vocals only add to the scary and evil landscape of horror.

“Bellum” opens with a bit of feedback before the main sound roar in like a tidal wave. The vocals are mixture between angry spoken words and harsh, incensed rage. It slows after the half-way mark to let some despondence creep in before the chaos returns. “Fames” opens with a slow and steady groove of drums and guitar strums. Something is building in the background. Layers build until the vocals arrive. The sound is quite depressing. “Obitusque” is a longer song that opens with that wall of sound that makes Black Metal what it is. The intense rage lets up a few minutes in, and a slower rhythm develops. Acoustic guitars take over towards the end in a clean and doleful finish.

“Urbi et Orbi Clamant” closes the album. It’s the shortest on the album but no less intense than the other songs. In fact, it might be the most harrowing offering of the six. Much like most Black Metal, the intensity is key to the sound. But unlike much Black Metal, the focus here is on building a scary, chilling, and agonizing sound with the heavy layering of the music. Indeed, there are so many layers that build so well with one another. The only drawback is that there are only a few brief moments where the intensity pauses so you can hear more clearly the blueprint, and there is not a lot of variety on the album either.

Songwriting: 7
Musicianship: 7
Memorability: 7
Production: 7