Wyrms – Sarkhral Lumænor – La Lueur Contre les Fléaux
Release Date: 16th September 2022
Label: Purity Through Fire
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal.
FFO: Sühnopfer, Véhémence, Darkenhöld, Ungfell.
Review By: Andy Spoon
French Black meal ensemble Wyrms is set to release their upcoming studio LP Sarkhral Lumænor – La lueur Contre les Fléaux (hereafter just referred to as Sarkhral Lumænor) on September 15th, 2022 on Purity Through Fire releases on CD. The entire release has 6 tracks and takes up a total of 42:52, just long enough to easily be considered an LP. Each track is a minimum of 6:22, so strap in and prepare to ride the wave on each title as Wryms is definitely not messing around with the extended intros and melodic interludes.
Immediately, I was under the impression that this was going to be a band which harkens back to some of the more traditional sounds of black metal going back to the 1990s. The album features a “thinner” sound, meaning that the mix is largely reminiscent of the older-school of black metal production. There is not nearly as much of the “finer” production that we are hearing in extremely-popular contemporary black metal. While the production is certainly good, it is starkly less polished than bands like Uada, Gaerea, and others who are part of a new wave of black metal. Obviously, for the hardest-core of black metal fans, this is not news to anyone, but it draws a contrast for those who have a generally-looser understanding of black metal movements across several “waves”, which is obviously not necessary to know to enjoy these types of offerings. However, it helps to know that certain sonic aspects are intentional, rather than accidental.
There is a great amount of atmospheric blend with musicality. Rather than taking the traditional 2-3 chord “Wall of sound” approach, Sarkhral Lumænor features highly-varied segments and distinct parts of each song. As the album develops, the songs seems to get better from a musical standpoint, many adding more memorable intervals and melodies that differentiate the tracks from a musical standpoint. There are numerous instruments piped-in via use of the keyboards, which highly-varies the sound. It’s not nearly as pronounced as Dimmu Borgir or Cradle of Filth, so definitely don’t expect the same thing. The keys are much more muted and don’t feature on any of the tracks outside of interludes/intros.
Vocally, Wyrms captures a fantastic range of gurgling, rasping, and excellent diction if you speak French. I think that vocally, he has one of the types of voices I am really excited to hear in black metal, as it has enough unique qualities to almost make it easily-identifiable, almost. For non-black metal fans, Sarkhral Lumænor features a series of vocal performances that I find to be well-executed and lacking very little. On tracks like Trouble Mort and L’envoye des flammes, the “feeling” of the vocals come through with excited passion and style, which really adds to the drama and exuberance of the overall tone. Those are definitely two tracks not to miss out on when checking out the record.
Insofar as the most powerful parts of the record go, I think that the drama and suspense of tracks 4 and 5 are not surpassed by any of the other tracks. While there is a good amount of variation in musicality, I think that Trouble Mort and L’envoye das Flammes are the “essential” parts of the album that are necessary for listeners. I felt everything else was either somewhat forgettable, or washed-together. That is not to say that Wyrms is not really making enticing and worthwhile music, I just found that I was not nearly inspired by the rest of the runtime. I would absolutely consider this to be an album to check out, but I am unsure as to whether it will have the staying power I was hoping it might from their single released a few months ago.
I call it “fairly good” and definitely listenable. Fans of Black metal ought to appreciate it for its depth and content value, but I could see how some might say that it lacks a little of the “x factor” to make a quantum leap to the next level. That being said, I do think Wyrms is far and away the best French black metal project I can think of at this time and Sarkhral Lumænor – La lueur contre les fléaux, is the one reason that proves that.
(3 / 5)
