The band returns after five years of silence with their second full-length album “Apparebat Eidolon Senex” via the underground Italian label Avantgarde Music. Once again, Escumergamënt brings its fresh, unique methods, enabling them to step into the spectral domains of necrodark and aggression, ensuring it sounds as immense and majestic. It’s evident that the drums are played at a faster pace than on the debut album, but the ghostly, eerily sorrowful atmosphere remains the same.

Just like “…ni degu fazentz escumergamënt e mesorga…“, the second album was recorded in the Chapel of the Wanderers on old and unpredictable equipment during days and nights of storms and torment.

The icy tremolo-picked riffs in the opening track “Within the Inner” fill the breadth with grim, cold vocals that expand the bleak music. Both guitars and vocals are low in the mix, but they deliver a unique atmosphere filling the landscape through the dark synth setting.

“Apparebat Eidolon Senex” echoes aggression and mysticism that somehow wafts the classic eerie sound of Manes’ 1999 debut album “Under ein blodraud maane” and Abigor‘s debut album “Verwüstung / Invoke the Dark Age”.

The slower parts have been replaced with more furious drums on “Radiant Glimmering Whorl”, which continues to filter aggression through the brooding, depressing fuzzy guitars. The songwriting can be described as cold and necro, while the synth adds a ghostly, subtle atmospheric backbone to the interplay of the acoustic guitars and guitar riffs.

The mix of mid-paced black metal is intricately demonstrated in tracks like “The Demon’s Approach”. The music imbibes avant-garde influences, and there are hints of Norwegian black metal bands like Fleurety’s debut album “min tid skal komme” and the Lithuanian band Anubi‘s debut “Kai pilnaties akis užmerks mirtis”. Another highlight track is “Laudanum and a Silver Scalpel”, which explores a more atmospheric, denser sound, unfolding different keyboard effects. The tremolo riffing enhances the dark feelings, consistently cultivating an aura of mystique throughout the song.

The song composition remains the key element for the music to shine without reinforcing the mysterious charm. “The Eyeless Festering God” showcases the melodies and rhythmic guitars. These elements, including the keyboards, imbue an aura of mystery, alluring the listener to pay attention to the atypical approach.

Escumergamënt established itself as a band that embarks on a fresh experimental direction while still keeping its songwriting rooted in the second wave of black metal. However, this particular influence on their sound has been refined; for example, the spacious landscape allows the guitar and drums to emphasize the spontaneous dark ambient, lending a wide array of synth atmospheres. If one thought the debut album was dark and mysterious, the second album certainly brings a deeper inspiration without neglecting the roots of Norwegian and Swedish black metal.

Among the eerily wonderful tracks is “The Corpses Heaven Refused to Take”, which emphasizes slower tempos. The rasping vocals and acoustic guitar at the beginning of the song stem from the fact that the music allows the other instrumentation to create subtlety for the keyboards to bewitch your ears. The tremolo pickings and soundscapes provide an awe-inspiring, majestic beauty despite their simplicity.

In the blazing tremolo riff in the final track “To the Graves!”, the music seems to defy current norms of black metal. The influences of pagan and Viking black metal bring many European bands to my ears, and the depressive forest-like atmosphere flows well with the muffling pace of the drums, tremolo melodies, and the keyboards, which is spellbinding. All this unique and fresh approach makes “Apparebat Eidolon Senex” such an immersive and majestic journey through the dark forests of Sweden.

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