Délétère – Per Aspera Ad Pestilentiam (Black Metal, Sans Water Fowl)
The last time I tasted Canadian black metal this dude put a bunch of geese squawking over garbage tremolo as part of the “aesthetic” and it was ridiculous. Délétère has a different approach, thankfully, though I admit I would’ve liked to laugh at more inane and completely out-of-place samples of water fowl over black metal, but oh well, we can only wait for someone else to make the move, you know? Maybe it will be a heron next, do they live up there? Does it matter is the better question? When will it become a “thing” is another we should ask? Anyway, so Délétère is a two-man show with almost a decade run, and no water fowl, and the majority of their work has been very well-received by the black metal community. First reason? No geese. Second reason? Actually awesome.
Per Aspera Ad Pestilentiam is but an EP, unfortunately, but more than enough to judge where this band should be going in the next few years. The classic black metal sound can be a disaster unless you do it like these guys. They have that thing, you know. That thing. That epic coldness that makes the genre so enjoyable in winter months. It’s easily fudged if the recording quality is too lo-fi, and again that is not cool aesthetic nor an excuse for it, or if it’s so classic it does absolutely nothing to differentiate itself. Délétère work all the angles. They come at you with love from all sides, and you leave your wife (or husband, or whoever) of 50 years just for them. After the annoying opening sample from some Satanic crap, they pull out some of the most stellar black metal action riffage I’ve heard over the past year, with those classic relentless drums keeping the heartbeat near infarction and even tying in keyboards without making you blush out of embarrassment when you realize that yes, you do listen to this stuff. Track four, “Milites Pestilentiae II : De Violatione Ciuitatis Febilis Dei,” has some particularly incredible moments you should check out, but the whole listen is for sure worth it. The new vanguard of Canadian black metal these guys? Possibly.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Délétère: Per Aspera Ad Pestilentiam
Sepulchral Productions
4.2 / 5
