Artist: Ars Veneficium
Country: Belgium
Label: Immortal Frost Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2024
2024 sees the return of Ars Veneficium after a four years absence since their last album, ‘Usurpation of the Seven’ was released. Now S. and Ronarg return, accompanied by the skilled drum mercenary Flo Musil, to present their latest full-length, ‘The Lurking Shadow of Death’.
One noticeable difference on the newest album is a shift in production. Both previous albums had a grittier production, bearing resemblances with more grainy Black metal or even Death Metal. This production gives more room to for instance for the bass, but also for the guitar melodies to take centre stage. With the clearer sound on ‘The Lurking Shadow of Death’, it highlights the melodic Black Metal sound more than ever before, casting away any of the Death Metal connections that may have been part of the previous albums. Mixing a multitude of Black Metal influences, one style that comes to my mind often is that of Swedish melodic Black metal bands such as Necrophobic. To what extent that is a bias created by the guest appearance of Necrophobic vocalist Anders Strokirk on the track ‘My Tomb Under the Stars’ we will never know. But it’s undoubtedly also the mix of the uptempo thrusting drums and leading melodies that influence this comparison.
A redeeming quality of the album is the focus on a few strong melodies per song, while much of the dynamics comes from Flo Musil’s every impressive drum work. This rather straightforward approach highlights the strengths of the album: the ferocious drum work in combination with the catchy elements in the melodies and vocals are performed with remarkable precision and uniformity. For instance the meandering melodic beauty of ‘De glorie van Dood’ with guest performance of Enthroned’s Nornagest, the shifting melody of aforementioned ‘My Tomb Under the Stars’ or the catchy riffs and vocals of ‘Pale Image of I’ are thoroughly enjoyable. At the same time it also exposes the album’s flaw. With songs nearly exclusively clocking in over 5 minutes, there is a risk of this formula becoming somewhat repetitive. For example, if it wasn’t for the humming sample between the tracks, I could have sworn that the intial riff of ‘Eye to Eye with the Devil’ was part of the preceding track ‘Death Is Light’. However, the optimistic listener could simply credit the album’s consistency and state that the songs on the album flows nicely. And overall that tends to be my sentiment as well.
In my opinion this is easily the best and most consistent Ars Veneficium album to date. Sure, ‘The Lurking Shadows of Death’ may not end up as my favourite Black Metal album of the year, but there is no doubt that it is entertaining from start to finish. One can only credit the focus and determination of Ars Veneficium on this record, as they at no point let the listener down. With plenty of intensity and memorable riffs, there’s more than enough to justify a purchase for support. For the music, but also for the striking artwork created by Ronarg.
