VENTR - Numinous Negativity (10" MLP on Black Vinyl)
Portugal | Black
Detailed Description
VENTR hail from Portugal, the current hotbed of raw black metal. While an otherwise-new entity, the rippling 'n' roiling black metal they present across their first public recording, Numinous Negativity, betrays a wealth of experience - an expanse of void-dwelling visions that are startling to behold this early on. However, linger under no assumption that VENTR are just another "raw Portuguese black metal band," for those visions are their own. Grim and ghastly, the band likewise exude a strident physicality which transcends most iterations of rawness, and the same could be said for their bewitching melodicism: never soft nor saccharine, these haunting lead-lines duly transport the listener into exquisitely dark 'n' cobwebbed realms. The sum effect of Numinous Negativity, from a musical standpoint, is a medieval malodorousness that's as ancient as it is rottenly fresh. Of course, VENTR build their music on a firm foundation of thought-through thematics. A title like Numinous Negativity should be fairly self-explanatory, but concept-wise, the main focus of the EP is characterizing the "Numinous Negativity" as a spiritual and/or religious form of negative perception - the mysteries in the works within the omnipresence of the Devil. In fact, the first and final songs are explorations of this concept: respectively, "Omnipresent Abominations" deals with the concept of (negative) illumination through the touch of the Devil's abominations, through witnessing "His Works through the eyes of the Hanged Child"; then, "A Dagger to Worship" explores the concept of Horrific Divinity, using the idea of the Trinity Dagger (Struggle, Cruelty, Iniquity), which represents a reflection n of this Divine Horror in the mundane reality. On the other hand, strongly-stated second track "Our Altar of Murderous Fanaticism" deeply deals with devotion to this Numinous Negativity...indeed, VENTR's altar is made for the Devil. Begin bowing before VENTR's arrival and behold Numinous Negativity in the flesh!
