Defenders Of The Faith, le forum Metal

“Fires Of The Apocalypse, Light My Path III” is the latest single from Houston, Texas-based black metal alchemists Necrofier. The track comes by way of the band’s smoldering new full-length, Transcend Into Oblivion, set for release February 27 on Metal Blade Records.

Since 2018, Necrofier has applied a spicy Texan intensity to the icy atmospheres of mid-’90s Norway and Transcend Into Oblivion deploys their modus operandi with more power, conviction, and ingenuity than ever before. Here Necrofier crafts a modern classic of the form, where tempestuous squalls of extremity are punctuated by sinister, melancholic, otherworldly melodies, twinkling in the gloom like will-o’-the-wisps on a black night.

Of course, the USA has had a black metal scene since the early ’90s, developing in its own obscure, eccentric directions. But Necrofier are among a gathering spearhead of US bands taking the genre’s ancient Scandinavian roots and replanting them on a wide American prairie. “Black metal in America has always been different than in Europe,” vocalist/guitarist Bakka asserts, “but I think there’s been a siren song in the US for this style of black metal to be created here. Something in the zeitgeist has pulled it forward, and bands like Uada, Hulder, Lamp of Murmuur, Blackbraid, and Cloak have all been really carrying the torch. Some of the reason is that America is starving when it comes to it; we rarely see European black metal tours. I think it created something where we and the others had to walk the left-hand path so we can have this in America.”

As is evinced by Transcend Into Oblivion’s song titles, themes and lyrics are conceptually linked with the number three playing an especially significant rôle on this, their third LP, a three-act structure comprising three three-part suites, separated by three instrumentals. Notes Bakka, “Transcend Into Oblivion is based on a Luciferian Dark Night Of The Soul. ‘Fires Of The Apocalypse, Light My Path’ is the awakening. The first three songs are experiences and dreams that were happening as this change began, and I questioned everything I was doing. It starts feeling as though a new fire has been lit, but it grows dark as we venture into the second act, ‘Servants Of Darkness, Guide My Way.’ This is the struggle and torment that comes along with the awakening. Realizing things from the past are no longer true and you see the world in a different way, and it isn’t easy. This leads into Act III, ‘Horns Of Destruction, Lift My Blade.’ This is the rebirth or accession. You have been transformed; you are not who you were before. You see the world differently and you take what is yours.”

Of today’s single, “Fires Of The Apocalypse, Light My Path III,” Bakka further elaborates, “As you question everything you know to be true, life starts to become difficult. You start to realize that your new path is not without consequences and you will have to make changes because you already started the journey and there’s no going back.”

Watch Necrofier’s video for “Fires Of The Apocalypse, Light My Path III” below.

Transcend Into Oblivion was recorded at Southwing Studios and House Of Thorns in Houston, Texas, produced and engineered by Joel Hamilton with assistant engineering by Chris Kritikos, and mixed by Joel Hamilton at Studio G in Brooklyn, New York.