Attaining knowledge of the forbidden arts beyond their spectacular shedding of the corporeal’d already lent Italian/Norwegian black metal band DARVAZA their own enlightened bale, or, access to the finality of total spiritual ruin unto infamy yet here on their sophomore full-length album the duo gaze beyond ego-death, aiming to soak deeper within the resonance of the adversary. ‘We Are Him‘ is the embodiment suggested, a deepest yet stare into the liberation of the mirror-void propelled by their amplification of classicist nauseation. The veering finesse of their dagger-hand finds itself sawing through moderne austere black metal dramatism more often here, speaking less to chaotic singularity and more to despotic actualization as their songcraft serves first to rally and then ride into conquer.

Formed circa 2015 Darvaza is the essence of Omega‘s (Frostmoon Eclipse, Chaos Invocation, et al.) idealism in reference to black metal’s original rhythmic expression and philosophy, not that his compositions and performances are “retro” but rather indicative of a primal understanding of first and second wave viability as feral emergence from heavy rock camp to counter-culture. This alongside the high expressivity of infamous vocalist Wraath (Mare, Beyond Man, ex-Celestial Bloodshed) creates an eerie vortex of ancient simplicity driven by a umpteenth generationally disturbed hand, a progression into clarity via a series of EP releases that’d resulted in a debut LP (‘Ascending Into Perdition‘, 2022) with a clear sense of self. Upon favorable review I’d likened the greater effect of their work to early Gorgoroth as well as early Katharsis alongside associated act One Tail, One Head where raw idealism and a sense of dramatic, declarative force yet found some melodic value. Leading with rugged force and slowly revealing transcendental stride was the magickry of that first album and they’ve more-or-less replicated and amplified the effect here on album number two.

Much in the same way ‘Ascending Into Perdition‘ was an experience of two main acts, split between havoc and transcendental bray, this new album reflects a similar flow through temperament from an immediately intense introduction and a more sprawling second half (or, beyond/including “Lazarus”) which broaches an epic stance. If you were to take your entire impression of ‘We Are Him‘ within its first three songs you’d arguably get a pretty good idea of what Darvaza has in order: “Holy Blood” is fairly thorough in developing more than a plainly raw attack, but by the time you hit “Chaos.Fire.Devotion” the greater first impression should be a balance of fiery slashing and dramatic bluster. From my perspective Wraath is at his most inventive to start in terms of layering multiple types of expression beyond his default rotten throated approach without swallowing the song, “A Last Prayer in Gethsemane” being the most focused Mgła-level command and the aforementioned “Lazarus” serving as the “The Second Woe” moment on this album sans any Urfaust-esque exaggerations inserted.

The mid-paced menacing lurch through “Lazarus” and the warped groove which interrupts the blasted-through stretches of “Blood of No-One” amount to my favorite portion of the full listen, the intensity of it at least, as Darvaza continue to find value in both tunnel vision and more sprawling nuance. The latter piece is maybe the most surprisingly development, particularly as the song concludes via a moment of sublime gloria which nearly grazes the empyreal before sliding into the glow of “Slaying Heaven”. As suggested the walk-and-slash rub through Side B offers the peak of the band’s exploration of ‘epic’ atmospheric rouse thus far and for my own taste some of their best work in the context of the full listen.

The whole of ‘We Are Him‘ reads as a journey from battlement toward the transformation of the firmament into a blazing portal to Hell as Darvaza not only conquer the realm depicted but raze it down in glorious march, a stampede which naturally builds upon past conquest. The first impression was even more potent this time around for my own taste and the back half of the record found somewhere to go with it beyond a few droning burners and an atmospheric set piece one might’ve expected. In this was their work both resembles greatness, striving for an even more superior expression, and purpose conveyed through sophistication of belligerent acts. While I didn’t find every piece on their previous work outright memorable this one sunk in a bit deeper, quicker and seems to have some reasonable legs in rotation. A high recommendation.

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