Luciferian Rites
When the Light Dies
Moribund Records
Street: 05.12
Luciferian Rites = Satanic Warmaster + Winterlore
 
From the very first blastbeat, When the Light Dies exults in its own fiendish black misanthropy. Luciferian Rites are content to stalk the perpetually frostbitten realms of early USBM and second-wave Norwegian black metal, and rarely wander far from those well-trodden paths on this, their sophomore release. Yet, instead of producing overplayed and boring tripe, it’s clear that these fellows feel true passion for their traditional sound. Count Shadow’s wretched howls sound tortured and raspy, and Abomination’s riffs range from blisteringly cold to unexpectedly heavy, venerating the full range of black metal without ever sounding like a pale imitation. While the album is mostly excellent, tracks like “A Dreadful Chant for Self-Destruction” suffer from a dearth of energy, plodding away at morose riffs without the infernal pacing of “Infernal Manifestation” or the title track. Nonetheless, this is a welcome blast of arctic frost from a quite talented band. –Henry Glasheen