From the great font of hubris welling up within the adversarial numinous an unfaltering retribution is served per an ever-expanding void as the radiation of Zürich, Switzerland-based atmospheric black/death metal sextet ANTIVERSUM tramples the senses into dystonic wrenching, a servile state per this sophomore full-length album. On ‘De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia‘ the band make great use of hexed and voluminous sound design to craft tripped and nausea-inducing rhythmus which bends the usual strictures of atmospheric death metal muse into metacognitive excitation. Cosmic horror and malign wonderment crawl within these five longform pieces as if designed to invoke an unknowable creature, one that mocks the futile senses of its prey prior to assimilation.

Antiversum formed for the sake of nihil and void circa 2010 as fellowes from established black metal acts Blakk Old Blood and Dominion of Suffering (and later Bølzer) conjoined to summon terminus and generate their own manifestation of existential cessation. This translated to voluminous yet sinister cacophony draped atop bestially summoned, frantically scraped death metal with a militantly pummeled structure to start as their first demo (‘Total Vacuum‘, 2015) eventually surfaced. While their sound is often compared to the likes of more chaotically set troupes like Impetuous Ritual and such I’d always found more Grave Upheaval in their doomed atmosphere and slow-rolling compositions, most of which took a blackened “caverncore”-esque approach to arrangement and performance beyond the bluster of their chasmic production values. This is exemplified via their debut LP (‘Cosmos Comedenti‘, 2017) a patiently whirring vortex of blasts capable of rolling into a variety of black, death, and doomed movements within mostly longform pieces. This modus is directly reflected within their work on ‘De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia‘.

If we could leave it at that and consider this second album a fine point of iteration upon a nowadays increasingly rare prospect in sound design and sub-genre athermancy that’d have been inspiring enough but Antiversum haven’t arrived eight years beyond their last utterance unchanged. We could argue over the plonking, electro dab of the bass drum here and gripe about the use of the “neon” light photo filter for part of the cover art but those are aesthetic nuances which give ‘De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia‘ some additional underground-level character… instead I’d point to a more elaborately atmospheric fume from the band, a growling and at-times conceivably psychedelic induction in experience as notable change. These moments weren’t foreign to ‘Cosmos Comedenti‘ but they were more repetitious in their scanning across ~8-10 minute songs, here the ~14.5 minute plumb of the unreal and menacing opener “Pulsar Feralis” provides enough space to explores a gamut, or, ouevre comparatively broadened per past works while sustaining a central motif via its main riff progression.

Without containment or chasmic suppression Antiversum appear all the more boldly noisome, an arrogantly stamped black metal drone punctuated by death metal-derived confrontation both of which comingle, influencing the shapes they’ve carved in depiction of all-inclusive nothingness in aversion. “Scudo-Nero” leads with chord-wriggling nuance and excruciatingly slow drawn progressions to start but ultimately secedes to violence, a tribally struck death metal downpour expanded by crumbling sustain and cast upon a thumping double bass drummed coil. The sense of motion created is weighted, toppling and even a bit odd-timed as the song progresses lending a sort of oppressive march to the piece as opposed to the typically ominous distance of prior releases. If not for the worming and rallying riffcraft found on this song I don’t think I’d have returned to crank the volume and sort some of the deeper layers available beyond the first listen.

Instrumental piece “QBism” takes full advantage of the ringing distance available to ‘De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia‘ per its extended introduction, a dual-guitar piece which showcases their layering of both rhythm tones and bass guitar through a slow reveal of each instrument. Much as this song does well to introduce “Vuoto” and provide some extended respite it could’ve easily been part of a particularly dark psychedelic doom metal record. As a closing piece “Vuoto” is equitant with the album opener, a strong bookending piece which finds its own obsessive flow, in this case Antiversum‘s rhythmic thread and turn to an Immolation-esque sauntering pummel beyond its blasted surroundings, carving a hypnotic spiraling movement from it ’til more primally set drumming creates a sense of further ominous marching movement.

Though they’ve reduced the distance from the listener via re-examined render Antiversum gain an empyreal coldness on this second album rather than warmth, a dire and estranged connection hanging over their otherwise extreme and punishing stature. This finds ‘De Nemesis Omnes et Omnia‘ achieve the perspective of its themes through bustling and nuanced movement which obscures none of the details of thier work. For this reason I’ve enjoyed this album more than most of their past releases and despite the drum sound becoming an irk after hours of repeated listening. On that same tip it’d warranted every listen given thanks to engrossing, at times unpredictable longer form pieces. A high recommendation.

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