Glorior Belli - The Apostates (2018)^{Release ID: 13228}

"Black Metal (early); Stoner/Southern/Black Metal (later)".  That is how a well known metal website describes the genre for Glorior Belli.  Given that I had already picked the latest release in the band discography for my Review Draft for The North this month I soon found myself wondering what the hell just how the hell Stoner/Southern and Black Metal would go together.  At first it is not so obvious a blend, with album opener Sui Generis sounding like a modern take on French bm with those familiar Deathspell Omega/Aosoth style vocals soon giving cold pleasure to my ears.  As the track seems to have ended though, it kicks back in with a melodic sweep (vaguely Southern sounding in fact) and goes on for a few more seconds.  Not sure why they chose to do that but it does not actually ruin the song as you might expect it to.  With my interest piqued already, onwards into The Apostates I ventured.

The first thing that I note as being as different with Glorior Belli in terms of traditional bm stylings are the drums, they are a strong and powerful entity in the bands sound but are not your traditional blastbeats.  They undertake varied runs and fills that provide individual entertainment whilst somehow not being distracting from everything else.   The stoner influences seem to grow with every track as the album weaves its way through this expansive and intriguing landscape - like being drip-fed the band's wider influences, track by track.  Part of me was flat-out ready to hate this album before I ever heard even one note of it and although I will not pretend to be madly in love with it, I cannot help but doff my hat in the general direction of Glorior Belli for having the balls to at least attempt something different.

The Apostates never seems to entirely lose sight of its bm roots, no matter how far away it sails from them at times (the title track in particular).  Just when you get the sense the band have switched sub-genres altogether they soon bring you back into the coldest of our clans here at Metal Academy.  For the devout, second-wave worshippers amongst you, this is probably an album that borders on the sacrilegious.  If you like a bit of variety in your black metal then you would do well to give this one a few spins as it only grows with repeated plays I have found.  It does not always work brilliantly (Hangin' Crepe is just a bad attempt at Stoner in all honesty) but it could have been a lot worse if the mix of these elements was even slightly off for the majority of this record.  There is a strong argument here for dual-clan existence for The Apostates as it embraces both elements of its promise well enough to do a quality delivery of the equal parts. Hi ho, hi ho, off to the Hall of Judgement we go.