Gevurah, the French-Canadian black metal duo have just released the follow-up to their debut album from 2016, Hallelujah!. This comes in the form of a four track EP titled, Sulphur Soul (Or an Inquiry on the Four Elements of the Spirit). It clocks in at just over thirty-one minutes and is roughly the same length as their first EP from 2013, Necheshirion. This EP is a raw, haunting project for one of Canada’s most conceptual acts and the more material they release, the more they prove themselves to be one of the most consistent groups today in the black metal scene.
The vocals, instrumentation, composition and lyrics all stand out in ways where most groups fall short. The vocals from X.T. are some of the most painful, groaning screams that truly make all of their songs, while being extremely well composed, come off like the most hectic fall into hell that the listener could visualize. These vocals are aided by a gallop of blast beats and tremolo guitars that sound a thousand strong. Very rarely does music ever manage to truly change our way of thinking and communicate the message on a psychological level but Gevurah sets themselves apart in that regard. The four tracks represent one of the four phases of the alchemical process, those being Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo. Each track has a brisk pace, is completely unique with idiosyncrasies you have to really listen for and gradually progresses into absolute chaos by the time the track has finished which could similarly be mirrored to the band’s view on alchemy, dark arts, rituals, etc.
This EP is yet another step in the right direction, being even more consistent than their previous work, which is very difficult to fathom. The atmosphere Gevurah creates in all of their material truly separates themselves from other groups that use similar themes to convey similar messages, just on the surface level with a pop culture understanding on the evil they try to convey. In this regard, Gevurah execute this perfectly where someone with no knowledge of their lyrical themes will be completely lost; lost in the chaos, being dragged down to hell with no escape by these two geniuses and that is a perfect approach. Sulphur Soul is yet another masterpiece from Gevurah and its very reassuring to see so many consistent groups of this caliber in recent memory.
(Profound Lore)
Released September 28, 2018.
Bandcamp
https://gevurah.bandcamp.com/album/sulphur-soul
Further reading
Bardo Methodology Interview: http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2018/09/24/gevurah-interview/
