Albums That Will #$@&%*! Your Face Off in 2016: Denouncement Pyre, Black Sun Unbound
It’s January, and you know what that means — it’s time for MetalSucks’ seventh annual new year preview, Albums That Will #$@&%*! Your Face Off! As with previous years, we won’t be spotlighting all the great releases coming out this year, but, rather, concentrating on lesser-known bands whose new releases might otherwise escape your attention. Look for these posts by assorted MetalSucks staffers throughout the week. We hope you enjoy ‘em!
Denouncement Pyre
Black Sun Unbound (Hells Headbangers)
First-quarter 2016
On a seismometer, hardly a twitch of the needle is needed to register Almighty Arcanum, the 2013 sleeper classic by Denouncement Pyre from Melbourne. The album was discussed by no one in my life (incl. me) and could be read about in hardly any publications alongside similarly awesome albums. It was pretty low profile, even for an obscure extreme metal album from the other side of Earth. And yet ten minutes of Almighty Arcanum‘s scummy blackened death metal and solos from ’90s Florida gives the impression of a band that gets bigger and better in leaps, not stumbles.
Three years after that thought, early 2016 will bring Black Sun Unbound, DP’s third album and a sure bet to be the most convincing document of their awesomeness. You could sense that much even having heard none of it, only judging from Almighty Arcanum and from the vibe of a band statement back in October; it describes the new album’s creation as “long and demanding” and characterized by “lots of experimentation” via “a vast range of ideas.”
But a handful of listens reveals that growth is only part of the story, and that Denouncement Pyre’s isn’t presented with timidity. That is, Black Sun Unbound doesn’t rush by in hopes that any flaws will go unnoticed; it plants itself in the path of your attention, its messages paced to allow viewing of flower to root. It relates to South of Heaven and Watain’s The Wild Hunt: a throttle-down for suspense and a reverence of the era of metal that mostly resembled Iron Maiden engulfed in flames, respectively. It slows down on the streets of a bad neighborhood to give you a look at what you must then immediately flee, it brandishes a knife with the understanding that you’ll eventually throw yourself onto it because fear is worse than pain.
No release date, public details, or preview tracks yet, so get to know 2013’s Almighty Arcanum (below).
Denouncement Pyre’s Black Sun Unbound should be out by April. Get Almighty Arcanum here and here.
