Lamp of Murmuur – Saturnian Bloodstorm (Argento Records)

Wednesday, 5th April 2023
Rating: 10 / 10

It is apparent from the sweeping riffage of lead track “Conqueror Beyond the Frenzied Fog” that Saturnian Bloodstorm, the third full-length album from enigmatic, one-man coven Lamp of Murmuur, is a force to be feared. The lurching, dancing, exotic chords of Melechesh can be heard throughout the 40-minute album, particularly on the following cut “Seal of the Dominator,” which takes black metal into places both earthbound and celestial, esoteric and universal, but the influences become far more varied and devout going forward…if one can muster the courage.

After a brief interlude, careless trespassers will be subjected to the wintery assault of “In Communion With the Wintermoon,” a composition that could be mistaken for a lost early-years Immortal piece, its drums and guitars conjuring ancient winds that extinguish the brightest, hottest flames ignited by bands with more experience and greater number of personnel.

By the time the title song and record finale flaps its wings above thee, sailing in an imposing circular pattern, the listener will have been inundated with entirety of the black metal grimoire. Emperor’s prog-driven necromancy, Rotting Christ’s dizzying melodic flourishes, and the revengeful, Hellenic spirit of Varathron will have left novices spent of their life-force, all while awash in the mists of Darkthrone as gatekeepers hang their heads in failure, lamenting the warnings that went unheeded.

Saturnian Bloodstorm is an occult document made for connoisseurs of black metal by a student of the genre, its pages holding infinite secrets. Open it if you dare.

Lamp of Murmuur on Bandcamp

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