After seven years spent tapping into the primal mind, heightening the senses enough to yank free the subconscious, and training in all manner of occult skills the time spent seeking superior attunement with their own left hand path serve Helsinki, Finland-based black metal emergence Hail Conjurer stature enough to begin defining the long-observed essence of lived satanic experience in deliberate meditative reflection. In the process of exercising this Sartre-ian sense of free will upon spiritual embodiments in retrospection our protagonist rejects the rationalist bias that has dominated Christian centric thought for millennia in favor of a method of reflective attentiveness that discloses the hallucinatory wonderment of the dark embraced, a study in the bewildering unknown accumulated as ‘Satanic Phenomenology‘. In the process of pecking through this latest tome we take nine steps within as many observed truths, achieving a the intended state of daimonian disillusionment which awaits us in the form of self-liberation and riveting abandon away from the norm.

Infernal black magickry, Dionysian eroticism, bleak psychedelia and eeriest arcane doom have fed into this methodically achieved solo project from musician H.K. since 2017, the fellowe is perhaps best known for Ride For Revenge and as current vocalist for Hooded Menace but this entity is an important spiritual font which is necessarily singular and treated without overwrought preparations. Based on descriptions tallied thus far each recording is prepared for in terms of training and a certain level intent developed but the intention is to create an album that is honest in its display. This means album tones/sounds are crafted from a blank slate and songs are often treated with single take-cuts, some of which are improvised and created within a limited span of time for the writing and recording process. This has served the artist well in terms of creating experimental noise infused sounds which often venture into black/doom metal territory, a sound which is most likely to appeal to fans of late 80’s black metal primitivism as well as the more atmospheric, lumbering movements of the early 90’s underground as well. We’ll have to stay somewhat vague in description of past works, most of which I’d detailed in my review of 2022’s ‘Earth Penetration‘, as each result has been different while sustaining dark atmospheric values and surreal tonality.

‘Satanic Phenomenology‘ once again represents the artist’s own corruption of black metal which makes use of harsh noise, doomed pacing and such but this time around the intent (or, the result) seems to be a response to the virtues of ‘Ouroboros Lust‘ (2023) where some manner of melodicism and structure contributed to the intoxicating themes of that album. In this case we’ve a less abstract and somewhat more focused example which ventures into the realm of melodic black metal in the early first wave sense with several songs centered around simpler compositions which may veer into black/doom movement one moment and melodious rhythms the next. The first impression made on my part was yet centered around some expected references, be they Barathrum (“Fiery Serpent”) or Varathron (“Katharsis”, “Demonic Cover of Earth”, “Ritus Paganus”) when the mode being explored aims for black metal movement. These pieces aren’t sweetly tuneful but carve out far more harmonious shapes than we’ve gotten from Hail Conjurer in the past, their sound is still ugly and raw when engaged in an aggressive mode.

For the duration of Side A this involves ~3-4 minute heavier attacks in 1:1 alternation with experimental noise and dark ambient sound collage which tend toward two minute interludes which sustain the cruel and malign atmosphere of the full listen. The second half of the album smartly pivots to two longer-form pieces with “Fiery Serpent” emphasizing the shambling (earlier) Faustcoven-esque black/doom metal roar that’d been building over the course of Side A before incorporating what I’d consider psychedelic doom metal movement into its slithering movement. The nearly ten minute closer (“Rites of Paganus”) would end up being the big triumphal payoff and the grand finale of the album for my own taste as its emphasis on rousing heavy metal riffs, dreary keyboards and ‘epic’ movement results in what I’d point to as my favorite song from Hail Conjurer to date. The two songs which close the album did a fine job of extending the repeatable aspect of the full listen thanks to the intense focus they’d brought beyond the more scattered lurching of the first half, creating a cyclic momentum which I’d not found on their two prior releases.

While the experience is still somewhat uneven by virtue of its Quorthonian method ‘Satanic Phenomenology‘ does well to showcase what the artist does best within its two distinct halves. The feral aspects of Hail Conjurer are yet dripping from every moment of the experience but the forethought, or, focus available to this album made it far more approachable for my own taste this time around. As such, this is one of several angles the artist has smartly presented in order to achieve a unique result on each of their eight full-lengths (not to mention secondary releases), a phenomenon which continues to impress with each new portal summoned. A moderately high recommendation.

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