Review by Sonny for Onirik - The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity (2020)

Onirik hails from Portugal, hardly known as a hotbed for black metal and is the solo project of one Gonius Rex who has released several reasonably-received albums since 2004 under the moniker. For me, this is my first exposure to the project so I went in having no particular expectations for this latest album. It features seven songs with a total running time of forty-five minutes, the longest, Assigned to the Inexorable Flames, weighing in at nine minutes. Vocally, Gonius Rex goes more for the croaking style of Abbath rather than soul-shredding shrieking and actually sounds impressively evil. Lyrically the themes explored involve the usual dark, occult-based search for forbidden knowledge and experience so intrinsically linked to black metal's core aesthetic - so far, so expected. Musically, it is a bit more ambitious than that however, with a discordant, busy guitar sound that gives it some avant-garde credentials and replaces traditional black metal riffs with a still direct, but more chaotic style that is heavily influenced by Deathspell Omega I would suggest. The overall effect is a lightning-in-a-jar exercise in controlled chaos and may either set your head a-spinning or fire up your blood, depending on your state of mind at the time of listening. That said, there is an absolute killer of a riff during penultimate (and my personal favourite) track Murmurs of the Aging Vessel that any real fan of black metal should lap up and closer Apathy of Might is in a more conventional black metal vein than the preceeding forty minutes. Initially I was under the impression that this was entirely a solo project, so was extremely impressed by Gonius Rex's drum skills, but this isn't the case, rather he hired ex-Enslaved and Gehenna skinsman Dirge Rep to handle the drumming. I think this was a very sound decision as an electronic kit or a less adept practitioner could have had a severe detrimental effect on the album's execution, but Rep's skills are such that the material is significantly enhanced by his presence. The songwriting and instrumental skills exhibited by Gonius Rex mark him as an exceedingly talented individual with black metal circles and this talent probably deserves more attention than Onirik currently enjoy.

Overall, this isn't actually the style of black metal I prefer, I am much more of a traditionalist, yet there is something about this album that appeals and I can't help but keep coming back to it and I guess that is the mark of a great album, so I consider this one a winner.