Arria Paetus - Arria Paetus (2016)

Delivering one of the most pungent and demoralizing Black Metal onslaughts of 2017, today we have Alaska’s Arria Paetus and their debut self-titled full-length release. Unleashing over 43 minutes of punishing music split in seven tracks, the band perfectly balances unrivaled brutality with melody and rawness. Reminding us of underground bands like Avzhia and more known outfits like Sargeist and Naxul, this band will take you by surprise.

Opening with the crushing “Slash Your Flesh, Drink to Death”, the band wastes no time in delivering gut-wrenching shrieks and dissonant riffs that slowly build up to total brutality. The savagery unleashed upon the listener on tracks like “Exsanguine” and “The Entropic Hive” perfectly demonstrate the band’s misanthropic views laid on their lyrics.

Crafted to inflict the most amount of pain, Arria Paetus tracks are not all your typical three-minute onslaughts, but rather more refined and complex attacks that dabble into more sickening atmospheric territories like the eerie “Of Concrete and Loss”. We are suckers for releases that perfectly balance growls and shrieks with the occasional clean vocals, and this album delivers in the area in so many levels.

The high-octane and yet melancholic approach of “Into the Turnagain Bore” makes it one of our favorite pieces in this release. As we reviewed this release on tape, we appreciate the killer production that polishes the important parts but maintains the harshness that any BM release should have. Closing with the dense atmosphere of “Cave”, we are left quite impressed by Arria Paetus crushing music and will to destroy anybody that listens to this release. If you are looking for devastating Black Metal, look no further and get a tape or digital copy of this punishing release.

Label: Lycaean Triune

Release: December 3rd, 2016

Genre: Black Metal

Country: USA