Extending wide their black claws and red-stained scales, eyes awash with the foaming rivers of slaughter beneath them Kouvola, Finland-based black metal quartet Aegrus present a beauteous yet harrowing display of Satanic pride on this most refined yet classicist fourth full-length album. ‘Invoking the Abysmal Night‘ regains the singularity built within their first decade alive while retailoring their overflowing enthusiasm for dark and ruthless melodicism as part of their oeuvre. A display of rounded capability and glorified expressivity beyond the usual referential sub-genre attaché this record finds the group resplendent as expected yet better rounded in their approach to the full album experience than past works, suggesting their endless pursuit of refinement and personal spirituality begin to achieve perpetual yield.

To get a sense of where Aegrus began as a duo circa 2005 between guitarist/bassist Lux Tenebris and vocalist/drummer Inculta and evolved through 2013 or so we’ve got a very convenient compilation (‘The Devil’s Works MMVI​-​MMXIII‘, 2020) to aid in the walk up toward Luciferian highs. Their first couple of demos present a more raw, straightforward style which’d been tuneful and aggressive in some sense but nothing particularly notable ’til their 2011 mLP, ‘Luciferian Engravings‘ where the core trio had learned from their second tape and began incorporating melodic black metal voicing which they’d balanced with the uncouth bashing of prior works. This was in some sense a classic result, a style generally representative of that period of Finnish black metal, and a very natural evolutionary step as they’d clearly become album-readied with the ‘Ritual’ demo in 2013. Rarely do I run into such straight forward, complete documentation of a band finding their point of interest and quality before attempting an LP and their debut (‘Devotion For the Devil‘, 2015) reflects every point of progress with some surprising melodic detail (see: title track) developed in some cases.

Beyond the point of first impressions Aegrus‘ style has evolved in lesser waves, starting with with the second LP (‘Thy Numinous Darkness‘, 2017) reverting to a duo and honing in on lead guitar melodies and a few mid-paced pieces. I’d first noticed their work by way of ‘In Manus Satanas‘ (2019) as it’d been their most dramatic and melodious release and the first to feature drummer Serpentifer (…And Oceans, Gorephilia), setting a high bar for expressive and at times almost neoclassic stated riff progressions which’d spoken to the more classic side of melodic black metal in a way that the comparisons to Sargeist and Satanic Warmaster made some sense but this was a glossier, approachable work with fewer roughened points of interest. There were certainly inspiring highs, such as “The Black Wings Upon Me” and “Gestalt of Perdition” which any good Satanist will appreciate, though I’d found the album became lost in the waves as time passed. Upon first impression, a grand album cover image and a warmly traditional melodic black metal sound presented up front, I would presume a similar fate for ‘Invoking the Abysmal Night‘ from the outset as opener/title track (“Invoking the Abysmal Night”) would storm in and grind away at its subtle but enthralling guitar melody and ranting snarl of a vocal. This’d remain my overall favorite piece on the album though there are a few standouts to point toward otherwise.

It’d be ridiculous to consider the prior Aegrus album an full exit from the underground sensibilities of Finnish black metal where they’d spawned but the darker-edged, hissing wrath of this follow-up takes us to a less obvious headspace which strikes at the punkish, cyclonic threads found on their first couple of records and cuts the prettier aspect of their most recent LP for early-to-mid 90’s Scandinavian violence. If references to Gorgoroth or Azaghal aren’t evident enough per the opener the gloom of “Through Devil’s Breath” and striding down-stroked slashes of “Followers of False Prophets” have a certain heavy metal thunder to their bigger riffs, changing the feeling of the album to something more confrontational beyond its starry-skied reveal. This harder-edged, rasped and pummeled side of the band is less often tempered by outright melodic guitar runs this time around but not devoid of said search, “Temple of Ardent Worship” for example finds its own dramatic pulse in its second half.

Devilry in the details. — This steadied approach doesn’t always find an immediate point of charm or fiery interest but the arrangements become more consistent in their dynamism as the last three pieces, or, Side B arrives. One of the better songs on the album, “Those Who Hide From the Light”, cuts to the quick of what I’d felt Aegrus do best herein and on their previous release in terms of taking the breakthroughs in guitar technique and arrangement founded around 2012-2013 in their work and molding experiential melodic black metal pieces from them. In this song an elaborate introduction verges on over the top before breaking past the first couple of minutes into the upward-stretching progression of the main verse riff. When cranked to an unholy level we can deduce some of the deeper-set vocal layers before they arrive with clean vocals around ~4:05 minutes in and this’d grant a certain level of scenery and escalation that’d inspire on each repeat listen, aiming back to the high of the opener in a different way. Otherwise we have something new on this album in terms of “Nocturnal Rites of Faust” a piece which reaches for a blackened thrash/heavy metal feeling with its inspired scaling main riff and an eventual break into a rock guitar solo which is, I guess kind of a jam in the middle of the piece and enough to catch my ear and surprise on early runs through the record. If their goal was to present a better-rounded and varietal spectrum to their eclipse I’d say they’ve done so without losing the amount of focal obsession the classicist death metal ear wants.

Does the general shape of the listen, its style points and riff count etc. matter more than the feeling it achieves? From my point of view, no, the thrill of the listen comes from the energy they’ve put into relatively simple gestures and there is enough melodic fusion within ‘Invoking the Abysmal Night‘ to keep me engaged for many listens to come. If you’re prone to pick at the inner machinery of black metal there should be enough to sate a few listens but the devout Finnish black metal fan will be best suited to identify nuance. For my own taste this record is really the follow-up I’d wanted to ‘Thy Numinous Darkness‘, sidestepping the repetitious grandeur the prior record had achieved and focusing on both the harsh and beauteous touch of their craft. In the grand scheme of things Aegrus‘ core being hasn’t mutated black metal beyond recognition or forged a new feeling within their work but that doesn’t disqualify its conviction and refined perspective in the slightest. A high recommendation.

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