Info
- Band(s): Mons Veneris
- Label(s): Signal Rex
- Release Format(s): Cassette, CD
- Release Year: 2022
- Review Date: August 30, 2022
I believe it is with a bit of expectation that one awaits the release of a new Mons Veneris record. Mons Veneris has never been a linear artists. His music has never followed a strict, and predictable, line. Maybe that is what fascinates people the most. The fact that we can get an Atmospheric, or a Black Metal release, and even then, it might not sound like his previous Atmospheric and Black Metal endeavors. Sick World we live in, right? When we were expecting stability…
His 2017 release – “Untitled” – is probably my favorite from him. The way he balanced his 2 facets, is really amazing. Forward to 2022 and the EP – “Torches of Entrancement” – shows an Artist playing with what he knows best. These are probably my favorite “incarnations” of Mons Veneris. When he sometimes dwells too much into his ritualistic side, his Music comes out sort of “dead”, without that spark, you know? I have had the chance to see him perform more than once – hope he is called out for this year’s Invicta – and when he decides on a Atmospheric / Ritualistic performance, I do not feel connect to him, as a fan; that bond sort of vanishes, mostly because I sense that that ritual is for him, for the person behind the Mons Veneris’ cloth, and not for us, the audience. I might be looking at it from a weak perspective, of course.
Nonetheless, when he channels his Black Metal being, things grown to different dimensions. I feel this release will sound amazing live! It is his line of Black Metal, period, and then, once “O do Fosso da Vida” starts… you know it is him. That operatic singing, those riffs, that structure! These are the elements that so well depict what Mons Veneris is. I feel he, as an Artist, has grown so much in the last couple of years, reaching for his prime, no doubt. “Satanás Impera” brings, once more, his trademark vocals – only he can pull those off, I dare say – and the music reaches a level of ritualistic drunkenness that I do not normally experience. This one, live, would be tremendous!
The whole album resembles the act of climbing a mountain: you start slow, with ease; during the climb you start to feel tired, but the urge to reach the top and see what is beyond, crushes every sign of fatigue that your mind might be experiencing. This is mind over matter, and this release grows from track to track, from ritualistic chant to ritualistic chant. In the end, it is Mons Veneris; it sounds like Mons Veneris; it really is Mons Veneris. He pulled it off once again: his Sound, his Music, his Art, His Glory. I always question Black Metal Artists’ affinity to the genre’s various facets and spiritual / philosophical, but I have never questioned this Man’s work. Overall: destructive piece of Black Metal… “Discípulo do Mal is the personification of Him, the Artist. (Daniel Utopia Platafórmica)
