Every once in a while a band will emerge from the shadows cloaked in obscurity, filth and just pure evil. However none seem to do it better or more grim than that of the Pembrokeshire Black Circle. Yes I am here, however wishing I was in Pembrokeshire to talk both too and about no other than Revenant Marquis and their release “Cyflymiad O’r Holl Arferion Ocwlt”.
Roughly translated to “Acceleration Of All Habits Ocult”. Spawned in the year of 2018 this monstrous black entity known only as S, has released a flurry of full lengths collaborated with the mighty M from Lamp Of Murmuur but also Spider God, The Suns Journey Through the Night and The Oracle to name just a few. However This album is not the usual gritty, raw and brutal black metal we are used to with this act. This album is a soundscape/ Ambient album which serves as the most hellish and uncompromising ambience possible.
The first time I heard anything within a similar vain would have been back in 1993 when I first heard Burzum’s “Ham Som Reiste” taken from the album “Det Som Engang Var”. But as the years progressed I heard more. The standard changed from the Synth overtones of the early years to a much complex soundscape and Ambient tone with bands like “Immundus” and their Album “Haunted Memories” not to mention the likes of “Niege et Noirceur” and the Mighty “Leviathan” and his album “A Silhoutte In Splinters” all these bands combined though haven’t had the effect on me like this has. This album is Darkness personified, It not only has that ethereal feeling in places but the feeling of drifting and falling deeper into a hollow void is ever increasing on every track.
There are little glimpses of brightness when the lighter tones come in but that overwhelming feeling that your travelling through the dark recesses of the entity S. mind Is truly haunting, yet disturbingly beautiful at the same time.
There is a certain element of both loneliness and solitude to this album from start to finish. It’s like being trapped in your own private hell with no reprieve for your Sins, but knowing that these artists within the Pembrokeshire black circle actually practice what they preach within the dark arts actually makes this album much bleaker and way more ominous in every way.
This I feel is more potent and probably way more disturbing than your typical B.M. it has a way of reaching into you and possessing those dark areas most would say lay dormant. There is a strong feeling of what actual horrors lay beneath the picturesque idyllic coast line and breath taking views to that on a cold bleak winters evening, shrouded in darkness and loneliness and just your thoughts. I feel that if I were to break down this album for the reader you wouldn’t learn or feel anything from it.
These aren’t just tracks, they are sermons for those that walk the same path as the artist recording them. Every track grips you and holds you still whilst letting the dark forces patrol your mind and soul. The tracks consume your very essence and purity is stripped away. This all leaving you with that eerie yet almost strange yet cosmic feel. Every track is a journey, one in which you must take alone. This is the object of the music and the mystery that surrounds this act. it is also to learn that you are your master and you and only you obey yourself.
After spending weeks listening and taking in all the sounds and inner visions of what this album is truly portraying I feel I understand Revenant Marquis much more than i did before. This act and the entity attached are much more complex than just your average B.M. band.
There are layers and horrors that go way deeper and coming from a remote part of the U.K. surrounded by both myth and legend this makes for one hell of a band. The ability to be a much more of a three dimensional act one that doesn’t just infect the ears but that of the mind body and spirit. All hail the darkness that is Revenant Marquis.
Hails #Foras #LordOfTheShadows
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