Secrets of the Moon - Privilegivm Review

full review

Tracklist:
1. Privilegivm
2. Sulphur
3. Black Halo
4. I Maldoror
5. Harvest (I Forgive Myself / The Tree of Life / Exsultet)
6. For They Know Not
7. Queen Among Rats
8. Descent
9. Shepherd

Release Date: 09/18/2009

user rating

3.8
excellent

Chart.

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On 2 Lists

4.0
excellent

fireaboveicebelow USER (95 Reviews)

2009-10-28 | 14 comments | 335 views

6 of 6 thought this review was well written

From a pure standpoint of a composer, Privilegivm is a fantastic example of taking relatively simple music and transforming it into something far more than you would expect. Secrets Of The Moon are a doomy, occult black metal band from Germany and have remained in the shadows their whole career. However this may be the record that brings them from the deep underground to more honorable heights due to its mastery of black atmosphere and overall unity, both of which play massive roles in the album’s impact.

Privilegivm is not held back by the genre’s standards of blast beats, simple structures, and Satanism. It’s almost progressive in its arrangement, not just because of the longer song lengths but because it includes outside influences only sparingly as to merely enhance the ambience and then it discards the idea to move on to another. However, even though it does this to keep from being repetitive, there still are returning components as far as compositional pieces goes, which helps the record preserve its identity as a single thought. In Sulphur alone you can hear fist-pumping sections, doom-inspired interludes, a lack of structure, and a traditional black metal chorus for the outro. You could say it’s not fair to simply label this band as black metal because they do in fact do many other things with their songs. An attention to detail is also apparent: In Black Halo, there’s a part where you suddenly hear a crowd cheer, the very select shouting vocals in Sulphur, just the crescendo of the drummer’s parts throughout the record, or the sporadic instances where some of the backing vocals are very “dead” sounding for a surprisingly, yet delicately awe-inspiring effect. The collections of these minute alterations to the songs enhance the impact to a significant degree that further brings the record to a new level above its contemporaries. It’s executed very professionally, and if you’ve ever seen the band live you can feel how in tune the members are with each other, giving the atmosphere an even darker and intense turn due to such unity.

Privilegivm succeeds in a unique manner where passion for the concept of the music is the pulsation of this band. From the intensity of For They Know Not to the drone-inspired Descent to the unexpected clean, yet dirty, vocals on Shepherd (let alone the first appearance of strings and solos), the band gives so much for the listener to experience amongst its interconnected discrepancies. Even the lyrics play a subtle role if you understand their meanings/references (this may take a bit of research on most people’s part). Anyone looking for another Darkthrone should ignore this, but anyone looking for the advancement of bleak, blackened, and inspired metal need look no further.

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