The stars have aligned and the entrails have been read to provide a rare treat in the Terminus catalog- a themed episode! Out of either sheer happenstance or perhaps a dark conspiracy, several big hitters of the Portuguese black metal scene have all released new records, and what would Terminus be if we didn't cover them? The intro mini-review this time is of the new EP by grumbling dungeon-dwellers Mons Veneris, whose Abruptum-influenced tones fuse with the chunky Portuguese style to make music for blackout drunk vampires. The result of the mixture is predictably excellent (and kind of hilarious too.)

First course: Corpus Christii, a longtime favorite of The Death Metal Guy, who return with a new full-length after a half decade absence. This is a fascinating deep cut sort of record by and for those with intense black metal fixations, playing off the listener's expectations of the style and constantly taking the road less traveled. Structurally fascinating but also inherently exciting from riff to riff, this is definitely an album that becomes more and more interesting with subsequent listens. Play along at home: crank it up, crack open a beer, and take diligent notes about the devil.
Wrapping things up is the third full-length by Candelabrum which provides another rare Terminus treat: a knock-down, drag-out argument between your two hosts whose opinions on this record diverge wildly. Candelabrum makes thin, ghostly, minimal music which slowly sculpts atmosphere out of reverb and negative space- but is it too thin to be meaningful? One host says yes, the other says no, and what follows is a (hopefully) illuminating discussion on the merits of minimalism, trends in nowadays black metal, and the role of production in experimental work. TDMG will talk more about it next time- after the fitting for his new glass eye.

0:00:00 - Intro/Mons Veneris - Torches of Entrancement (Signal Rex)
0:27:50 - Corpus Christii - The Bitter End of Old (Immortal Frost Productions)
1:18:15 - Interlude - Ofermod - “Calling of Setnacht: Twofold Triunity” fr. Thaumiel (Spinefarm Records, 2012)
1:24:46 - Candelabrum - Nocturnal Trance (Hells Headbangers)
2:09:48 - Outro - Be Persecuted - “The Last Right” fr. End Leaving (No Colours Records, 2009)


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