Warmoon Lord - Sacrosanct Demonopathy (2025)^{Release ID: 59843}

At some point around the turn of the decade, I came to the unfortunate realization that old school black metal wasn't for me. The Scandinavian giants that pushed the genre to new heights during the 1990s (Darkthrone, Mayhem, etc.) had a flare for the cold and atmospheric, but lacked any of that cool songwriting stuff that made their material memorable beyond initial contact. The genre has grown throughout the years sure, but I've found that the type of black metal that I enjoy is not considered black metal by the consensus of its audience. And so, I've been forced into solitary confinement with atmo-black and progressive black giants until something a little less demanding comes along to sink my teeth into.

Enter Warmoon Lord, a modern Scandinavian black metal band whose influence is worn on the cover of the debut album, Burning Banners of the Funeral War. Now, four records in, I was hoping to see some growth through the music, or more specifically, if any of these songs had any staying power. After all, if bands are just going to release fluff pieces to their influences, why wouldn't I just listen to those bands instead?

Sacrosanct Demonopathy is a tough listen. I can tell that their is some effort going into it based on how its written. The songs themselves have direction and the flow of the album is quite well done. I like how the album bookends with deliberately slow and controlled instrumentals, before filling the remaining tracks with relentless original black metal. The record is concise and hooks are given some level of appreciation on each song, allowing them to stand out on their own. It's too bad it was all wasted on a black metal album.

I'm sorry, but the production on Sacrosanct Demonopathy is ass. I hate how the most authentic sounding portions of this record are the intros on "Warpoems & Tragedies" and "His Enigmatic Ways". The clean guitar intro sound full and driving, and then the electric guitar and percussion enters and it gets completely neutered. The guitar is compressed to all hell and the bass is practically non-existent. The vocals, which should be front and center, are viewed as an afterthought in how low they are in the hierarchy of sound. And the synth elements? While sparse in their delivery, the few times they do show up they get completely drowned out by the multi-tracked guitars and percussion.

I understand that a lot of my criticism of Sacrosanct Demonopathy and its production is what a lot of black metal like in this style of music. And I have, on occasion, enjoyed a compressed, muted black metal album in the past. What makes this one stand out among the rest is that Warmoon Lord were trying to make something that was more epic, with its power metal and thrash riffs on tracks like "Invoking the Retribution Eidolon" and the poor production does not do any favours. In the end, it's an album that tries to be more progressive and melodic, but the roots of the genre that Warmoon Lord try to keep severely kneecap whatever growth this record might have had.

Best Songs: Invoking the Retribution Eidolon, Tartaros Offering, Daemonic Supremacy Enthroned 

Where does black metal stop? I mean just how much more black metal needs to be reproduced in the old school means and sound before the world eventually loses interest and we of the black kvlt retire to our holes and listen to A Blaze in the Northern Sky, In the Nightside Eclipse or De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas for the rest of our days? I jest of course. I have no desire to see the culmination of one of the most important metal movements of my lifetime at any point soon. However, even the most devoted corpse paint wearer must concede that there is a lot of black metal out there, and that a lot of it sounds the same. What is refreshing, even if only now and again is when we get to hear some slight deviance into a new angle, or a new direction. A combination of styles that does not sully the conventional grimoire of black metal yet does offer some enticement or enrichment of the style beyond tremolo riffs and ghastly vocals.

Enter Warmoon Lord. Now do not get me wrong, you can instantly draw any number of influences on Warmoon Lord’s sound with just a few listens to Sacrosanct Demonopathy. Whether it is the symphonia of Emperor, the scathing attack of Behexen or the melodic trappings of Sargeist, it is all pretty much worn on the sleeves of Janne and Juuso. But what is also obvious, even from the opening instrumental ‘Warpoems & Tragedies’, is that there are nods to the wider heavy metal world. That opening track for example reminds me a lot of Iron Maiden. Seemingly adept in equal amounts with both riffs and keys, the album chimes and chops at the listener. Those galloping riffs again recall the NWOBHM/trad metal plod of years gone by whilst the keys add the own lavishing of majesty and grandeur, breeding a sense of arrogance across the very confident pacing of the tracks.

The ghastly rasps of Juuso firmly keeps the mindset in the black metal camp though. The vocals have a delirious tone to them, bordering on howls at times which work well in contrast with the slower, more atmospheric moments also. Tracks such as ‘A Hungering Yoke’ explore the full gamut of Warmoon Lord’s armory, deploying atmospheric keys, frantic riffing, rhythmic riffing and icy cold vocals across its mere five-minute run time. Taken as a whole experience, Sacrosanct Demonopathy is quite a positive sounding black metal record. Not blue skies and rolling green fields by any means. No, I look at the artwork for the previous release from the duo (Battlespells) and I get the sense of the smug pleasure that army of evil knights as they march away from the burning buildings, past a river turned red with blood. In short Sacrosanct Demonopathy feels good in the sense that you have just fucked shit up in an epic way, defeated an enemy or conquered a long-standing civilisation. As a record, it carries a crude sense of achievement.

I normally do not like too much symphonic elements to my metal, but the balance struck here between the instrumentation (except for the drums which do get a bit lost at times) makes for a rewarding experience. Tracks such ‘Uncreation’s Dragon’ are simply too well put together to argue with, the keyboards only grow the epic nature of the music from my standpoint. This is going to be high on my year end list I sense. The drums are the only let down for me in what is an otherwise great listening experience.