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

Up until 2020 my life had been completely devoid of one-man Portuguese black metal project Onirik. Multi-instrumentalist Gonius Rex had apparently released four albums & a couple of splits by that stage but they’d somehow managed to drift past my attentive gaze along with the thousands of other potential underground metal masters that are released every year. Listening to “The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity” for the first time does make you wonder how that’s come to pass though as, love it or hate it, it’s very hard to deny that it’s the work of a well-equipped & highly ambitious individual who has spent a fair bit of time honing his craft already. That’s not to say that it all works as that’s certainly not the case (at least not for me) but there’s an air of confidence about the way Gonius goes about his art. Let’s take a look at it in more detail, shall we?

After sitting through the full duration of the album a few times I had to question why no one has been throwing around the “Avant-Garde” prefix much when it comes to Onirik’s latest work because it’s hardly your typical black metal outing. The relentless layering of unusual lead & bass guitar melodies really does sound very different to anything I’ve heard before & the closest comparison I can muster is to say that it reminds me of a more black metal oriented Ved Buens Ende…. (hears Ben’s ears prick up 819 km away). I guess it would be fair to say that those melodies will be the deciding factor in how much the album is capable of winning over your affections too because they can be quite off-putting when Gonius doesn’t get them to gel quite right, even bordering on the sickly or circus-ish at times which sees my rating potential having a hard cap placed on it to tell you the truth. When he gets everything right though it makes for a very interesting listen but I’m tempted to say that when I try to sum up my thoughts on the album I lean a lot closer to the word “interesting” than I do to the word “enjoyable” which is quite telling & is perhaps the primary reason that I’ve scored “The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity” lower than some of the rest of you. I think it’d probably to be unfair to reference the old cliché about not being able to turn away from a car crash when mentioning the parts that don’t sit well with me. It’d be more accurate to say that my attention is drawn to something that's sounds a little off but I’m so intrigued by the artist’s imagination & inventiveness that I remain on the edge of my seat waiting to see what he does to repair it. For that reason I don’t find a single one of the seven tracks a chore to sit through even if none of them ever seem to threaten being labelled a genuine classic.

This isn’t the most brutal or blasting of black metal releases but it doesn’t claim to be either. The production job is very compressed. You can make out all of the instruments pretty easily but it all moves as a singular sum of the various parts. The drum kit of Djevel/Gehenna/Enslaved drummer Dirge Rep could have been represented better as it sounds a little flat to my ears. I think this makes Dirge’s performance sound a bit more lacklustre than it actually is although I don’t think there’s anything particularly special about his work here anyway. The bass guitar lines are easily deciphered & showcase a brilliantly ambitious approach that excites the old musician in me. They’re used very much as an additional lead guitar in that they play an equal role in the presentation of the melodic themes & it sounds really fresh & innovative. Gonius’ vocals are presented in a croaky style similar to artists like Immortal, Abbath & Inquisition more than your usual high-pitched black metal screams & they’re more than serviceable without ever threatening to become a genuine highlight.

Overall I’ve found myself enjoying “The Fire Cult Beyond Eternity” more for it’s approach than it’s result. It’s definitely not my usual bag but it’s progressive tendencies & artistic nature were effective enough to win me over in the end. I’m not sure it’ll be getting too many return visits but it’s an excellent choice for a feature release as it makes for a great source of healthy discussion & will no doubt offer most of our regulars a significant amount intrigue & fascination.