From their shadowy beginnings in 2017, Portugal's VOEMMR have continued to be enigmas in a Portuguese black metal scene already possessing plenty of enigmas. Much of that enigma status hinges on the Aldebaran Circle, which includes the esteemed likes of GINNUNGAGAP, TRONO ALEM MORTE, and ORDEM SATANICA, but VOEMMR's inclusion is nevertheless crucial. They proved that status with their full-length Nox Maledictus their very year of emerging from the void, but it's the band's successive recordings which proved how haunting and harrowing black metal could be. That all blossomed in earnest with 2018's Sombr Moebrd demo, which starts off the new collection Negras sessões no abismo sul. Rarely has organ-led black metal been this spectral and shimmering whilst portending horrific ideas from beyond the shade...indeed, the three-song recording sounds like the work of ghosts. On the second half of Negras sessões no abismo sul is the VOEMMR's most recent demo, Tordaebr Odr Daebr. Released in that cursed year of 2020, the four-song recording maintains that magickal & malnourished sound which they've made their own - and, it must be said, whilst continuing the cryptic dialect created by legendary French forebears Belketre - but pushing the dichotomy of beautiful / eerie to further, more perverse extremes. Calming before the dread sets in, Negras sessões no abismo sul is a timely reminder of VOEMMR's still-considerable powers, as they prepare to play this year's SIGNAL REX-curated Invicta Requiem Mass and next year's Howls Of Winter fest in Estonia.
