The Great Southern Darkness

This is my first experience with French black metal act Glorior Belli. As is often the case with French black metal acts, Glorior Belli are rather uncouth and as far as my own experience goes, stand as an anomaly in the genre. Blended in with their brand of black metal is a massive dose of doom-laden, desert rock, which is certainly different and actually rather fresh on the ears.

So as opposed to a cold, icy atmosphere commonly associated with the genre, Glorior Belli create a sun-kissed, swamp of whisky, littered with a stench of stale cigarettes and body odor, spluttered across of palette of ochre. The blend of southern sounds and black metal is actually rather cool, and the guitar work comes off as rather interesting, the riffs are cool and will no doubt have many dusting off their air guitars.

Tracks such as "Negative Incarnate", and the title track show off what these guys do best, but the whole album is quite the enjoyable listen, and hopefully will appeal to those outside of the black metal circles. The Great Southern Darkness, is a curious album that I feel is certainly worth checking out. Fans of southern-tinged metal, as well as more experimental strands of black metal should certainly give this a look. Recommended.