If there’s one thing I as a lifelong fan of Extreme Metal can’t understand about those who aren’t from our “world” or “orbit”, (for lack of a better term) it’s that there’s such an emphasis on questions that always concern the vocals. “How do you know what they’re saying?” or “It’s just noise” or other irrelevant questions that have nothing to do with the music itself.
But you know what? That’s fine; I have encountered that so many times it now has lost all meaning – and I imagine that’s the same for anyone else reading this. The reason I bring this up, of course, is that the vocals here by The Netherland’s Embraced By Darkness on ‘Ex Inferis’ are, in my opinion, simply fantastic. Those shrieking, high, evil and piercing vocals that accompany the blistering and powerful Black Metal offered up by Embraced By Darkness on this album are truly a testament to how they’ve crafted this sound, they are an instrument in their own right.
A quick scan of Metal Archives shows this outfit have been around since 2013 but didn’t release this album until 2025; they likely have their own reasons for the delay in releasing a full-length album until now, but regardless, the result is, quite frankly, superb.
Black Metal with all the usual hallmarks (corpse paint, blast beats, Satanic overtones, infernal piercing vocals and rapid-fire riffage) is still a winning formula in my eyes, and this album starts strong and doesn’t let up.
While I myself would not offer up The Netherlands as a hotbed for Black Metal as a first choice, that is not to say that there isn’t a wealth of excellent bands forming the scene in that part of the world; far from it, the likes of Unlord (who I first heard many years ago), Haliphron and Sardonic Allegiance proving there is enough sonic fury and creativity to go round, for starters.
There’s no shortage of extremity here; with minimal changes in tempo but in all, a profound mastery of their sound, with the aforementioned vocals shrieking, screaming and accentuating the driving blasts and malicious tone of the tracks along (the track ‘Punishment In Hell’ coming to mind) and the light sprinkling of melody that helps the tracks breathe here and there.
The outro, ‘Mortuus’, a brief light piano piece that ends the album with a respite, gives the fast and unrelenting tracks that preceded it even more resonance. Make no mistake, this is not melodic Black Metal in the vein of Sacramentum or Vinterland; it’s raw, uncompromising and vicious in its own way, and well worth a listen.
