Cefaris and Wrought Records Invite You To Worship Under The Serpent Moon
Through dealings surely conducted under the rattling limbs of dead forests, contracts signed by what little moonlight the cloud cover would allow, Wrought Records is preparing a dark offering to it’s supplicants. On May 7th Cefaris’ third album, the second of 2020, will be released on cassette and digital. Less of a project and more of an entity to be reviled, or perhaps worshiped, Cefaris is true occult dungeon synth, so cloaked in black midnight that it almost hides the tinge of blood that coats it. Cefaris is, at its heart, a pure exploration of vampiric motifs.
Under The Serpent Moon is a rough and unsettling piece, with little fidelity to speak of. Piano melodies swirl into black pits of hypnotic drums. Screeched, distorted vocals break in echo-laden waves over the instruments. Anguish is the word that comes to mind. Vile, unspeakable anguish put to tape. It's little moments when one element steps up above the rest that make this such an interesting listen. A beautiful selection of piano notes will rise out of cacophony and sink back down. Lyrics, fragmented when they are discernible, speak only of the profane and depraved. There are ugly things at work under the surface here.
Cefaris is not here to make you feel good and it’s not here to help you understand your own dark feelings. It feeds off of your energy. It wants your blood. In eight tracks, this album performs a ritual with the intent of keeping the old ways alive. Utterly raw and sometimes unpleasant, it acts as a continuation of the solitary, outsider method in the realm of black metal.
I find little solid footing with this album. From the opening of the first couple of tracks, it’s like my ears are being tricked by overlays of static and distortion that hide everything I try to hear. The sounds constantly warble in and out of clarity. It can be a bit disorienting. The vocals serve as my lifeline, a harsh yet grounded sound to hold onto as it pulls me through dark corridors that smell of copper. The album really picks up on track 3. “Arcane Worship” begins with ritualistic drums and a sort of mechanical sample reminiscent of an industrial track, an intro that leads into a fantastic vocal performance over straining strings. From there, the album is a feverish account of profane rites, smattered with driving piano riffs. A few other instruments make appearances to keep things from getting too homogeneous, such as the horn melody on “Oh Great Serpent Moon”. Repetition could be the album's one fault, although I think it works well. The bleak, dismal landscape that Cefaris paints is not one of extreme variation so if that’s what you're looking for this may not be for you. I, however, am happy to sink into this mire of coagulated blood. The spirit of occult black ambient is truly alive here.
Get your virgins ready, the Serpent Moon rises on May 7th.
This album gets 8/10 on the Madness Meter.
Wrought Records: https://wroughtrecords.bandcamp.com
Cefaris: https://cefaris.bandcamp.com