“Denuntiatus Cinis” is hands down one of the more advanced and creatively twisted albums created by a one man project that I have heard in some time. I used to be a complete fanboy for this genre when it first began with it’s DIY aesthetic, but the Xasthurs, Striborgs, and endless stream of Darkthrone/Burzum teet sucklers of the world successfully slayed the suicidal angst appreciating specter haunting my oversaturated CD collection. What sole sinner, Cernunnos, does so effectively to set Haeresiarchs of Dis apart from the bloated throngs of “woe is me” 1 man bands is that he composes very dense riffs and doesn’t shy away from working with many different layers of both dark ambient sound, and multiple guitar lines to arrive at a very nightmarish vortex of music. For example, Emperor strikes me as being a very sturdy influence for Haeresiarchs of Dis to brace itself up with a similar high register screaming style (sounds very much like Ihsahn during the demo and Nightside era), not to mention the thinned yet grating guitar tone that leaves a lot of sonic ceiling for all the layers to poke through this nebulous lo-fi production. The programmed drums are also a bit thinner sounding than I would personally go for, but again, the lack of room ambiance keeps the end result tidy, while straining hard on the senses. What I noticed right away is how challenging and engaging the whole of Cernunnos’ compositions are. He’s a very advanced songwriter as he typically shies away from the traditional pop structures and digs down deep with torturous journeys in his song structures that often leave me puzzled at where the song is going to end up, yet very eager to hear how he ties it all together. And tie it all together he does every time. In a lot of ways, a vast majority of this material comes off as sounding almost linear in structure, but I’m sure this is due to the fact that I’ve only spun “Denuntiatus Cinis” 3 times. Many more dark nightmares will surface out of this beast I am certain as I make it a more normal entity in my listening rotation. Hailing from San Jose, California, I can tell you I was not expecting something so frost bitten and pleasingly troubled stylistically to arise out of that sector of the US. Along with the obvious Norwegian BM influence, expect peaceful choirs, an odd acoustic Celtic number, and waves of unsettling blackness ripe with a conviction often forgotten these days.
Moribund Records
Worm Gear 