Noenum – Fiery Path [EP]

In late 2022 came the unexpected return of the Finnish duo of Noenum after an absence that lasted well over a decade. However, upon the release of their debut full-length album ‘Heresiarch’ in 2022 the band showed that their primitive Finnish Black Metal had not lost any of its intensity and authenticity in the years since their previous release. This productivity didn’t end there however, as some months after the release of the album on CD and coinciding with its release on vinyl, Northern Heritage presents the latest Noenum release, the 10” EP ‘Fiery Path’ (of which a CD release is coming later).

With two songs and an intro and outro, ‘Fiery Path’ delivers 16 minutes of new material. Like the full-length, these songs were recorded during 2022 and judging by the production they could very well have been part of the ‘Heresiarch’ recording sessions. ‘Fiery Path’ certainly has the similar authentic and stripped-down sound, with clear room for the raw Black Metal riffs, the nicely analog-sounding drums and Spell’s possessed vocals. And in terms of the music, the songs ‘Fiery Path’ and ‘River of the Ancient Blood’ are very much in line with the album as well.

Taking bands like Burzum and Satanic Warmaster as a key inspiration and infusing it with a Pagan and Heavy Metal sound, the sound of Noenum is raw yet melodic and catchy. Adept is a proper riff-master, with the melodies transcending the average band in the Finnish scene by far. This is shown as soon as the ambient intro ends, and the more folky and Heavy Metal-esque title track of the EP continues essentially where ‘Heresiarch’ left us. Spell’s vocals are proper madness, drenched in reverb and come in multiple layers, while we are even treated with a little melodic solo in the song. Noenum’s forte here is that the very melodic and Heavy Metal based song manages to retain the rawness and Black Metal principles to the very core. The strumming intro of ‘River of the Ancient Blood’ leads into a somewhat different song, emphasizing the biting tonality of the Black Metal riffs more as opposed to the Heavy Metal slant of the song on the opposite side of the vinyl. The second half of the song turns the pace up slightly, freeing up room for Adept to show his creative drum skills and fills and even letting in some of the bass into the fold. This twist in the song not only keeps it interesting, but also serves to musically tie the songs together, until and ambient outro calls for the end of the release.

While slightly different, Both songs strongly bear the signature sound of Noenum. This applies to this release, in comparison to the full-length and within their entire discography. It’s the sort of honest raw and primitive Black Metal with catchy though-out riffs that’s hard to get enough of, making ‘Fiery Path’ a very welcome release. At the same time it’s comforting that we don’t have to wait over another decade for more Noenum material to surface let’s hope they keep up the pace!