French is a great language for black metal, especially that of the sort that is ambitious and powerful, soaring and bleak… the sort of black metal that Ars Moriendi have always been known for. This is a band who understand the wonderful brutality of this sort of music and are enamored with the incredible sound worlds that black metal can represent. This isn't just music for nerds, this is music that takes a genre to the next level, that shows us what the genre can do and reminds us time and time again that black metal I indeed the sound of liberation: the sound of a great new future and a better tomorrow, one that we should all want to be a part of. Though they largely play into many of the common tropes of avant garde black metal this is still a band who push limits and make sense of a world that so often just plain hurts.
I love the depth of the compositions on Sepelitur Alleluia; the instrumentations are often unique with moments of horns poking through every now and then. The band's ability to let their music rise and fall and show you unique paths forward is very exciting to me. It shows me weird paths into the magic of the underground. There is a certain twisted, blazing majesty that Ars Moriendi have been able to invoke, it touches on the power of the old school, but those high pitched screaming guitar lines show us that Sepelitur Alleluia is much more than just another black metal album. It showcases a level of skill with the guitar that is oftentimes unique. The band stride confidently forward, every new song unveiling brave new waves of black metal fury and reminding us once more what this band has always been about. Ars Moriendi have truly outdone themselves with this outing, bringing their always forward thinking sound to new place and suggesting that there is decades more of solid material to come.
The best part of Sepelitur Alleluia though is that it never feels like too much. There is nothing inherently overwhelming about it, just a lot that you can sit back and relax in. You never feel suffocated by what Ars Moriendi have put together here, rather you are given a chance to embrace a music that is incredibly layered and more intricate than we could ever hope for. It's an album that gives you so much to enjoy, so much to revel in and feel the future of the genre cascading around you, providing absolution and beating into you the eternal beauty of a music that was always meant to somehow, someday, change the world. Ars Moriendi understand that black metal is their birthright and that they have a responsibility to help it grow. In a world where every hipster and their brother is trying to start a new forward thinking black metal band Ars Moriendi reign eternal, kings of the forgotten genre.
