Noenum - Black Esoteric Evangelium
Hammer Of Hate
Black Metal
4 songs (25:18)
Release year: 2004
Hammer Of Hate
Reviewed by Misha

One member handling the instruments, one on vocal duties. No color, no website, just a mention in merely one of the metal archives, together with a label and a dead link. One demo released, to try to find it would be madness. One EP too, which is limited to 666 copies, and most fortunately I proudly hold my copy in these hands now. The genre wouldn’t be very hard to guess: black metal in its purest form. Doubtlessly having listened to this far over fifty times now, I’m ready to give this masterpiece the review it deserves, without ever having to look back thinking the score was too high. Not only is this the release that enthralled me most of all 2004, it probably stands above all other releases I have ever heard as well. Now let me substantiate this seemingly rather extreme view:

As mentioned, the demo tapes are quite impossible to get for a guy like me, so I only heard them on MP3 format. What they prove is that Noenum’s sound was determined in 2002, and that they did not rip more popular and analogous (sounding) bands like Baptism and Nachtmystium, who put out their records on this matter in 2004. Thus Black Esoteric Evangelium is easily compared to Baptism’s Wisdom & Hate and Nachtmystium’s Demise. If you adored those records as thoroughly as I did, read no further and buy this EP. In comparison to those, Noenum sounds purer, more consistent and, simply put, better. While the other two have the usual time-filling intros and outros, Black Esoteric Evangelium remains steady and equal throughout the entire album. Not one second is filled with anything other than their untarnished style, which is why the Finnish band managed to release such a solid album.

There are few facades known to the broad genre of true black metal that the band did not exploit. Throughout the album, steady rhythms are slowly plodded by the primitive drums. However simple and repetitive they seem, as fitting and hypnotizing they are. As comparison, think about the typical Legions Noires skinbeating style (Torgeist and Vlad Tepes for example): barbaric yet still with enough variation to uphold its allure. No blasting, however some thundering double bass pedaling every now and then highlights the misanthropic atmosphere. Another aspect of BM the band found use for is the painstaking sorrow mirrored in everything that is carried out by the guitars and vocals. Anyone who thought that it was impossible to laden shrieks with more, and more convincing despair than Varg Vikerness is proven wrong here. While Noenum’s vocalist Spell sounds somewhat similar to the almighty Varg, he also managed to get rid of the slight amount of silliness that Varg’s vocals suffered from. Spell uses a completely different type of vocal assault on this album as well: an ultra deep voice that (forgive me) reminded me of Dani Filth’s low talking. Although it’s used just once and just before the fadeout, it greatly adds to the mystic feeling this album certainly already possessed.

The lyrics are wholly imperceptible through mere listening, and unfortunately Noenum didn’t add the libretto. This is probably due to the esoteric nature of the album/band, as the album title mentions. This opus is meant to be for a select number of ears only, a swift look at the back of the record will endorse this: “When, where and why this occult esoteric manifestation was recorder is to be the knowledge of none. Manic esoteric black metal. No contact! Limited edition of 666 copies serving the Elite, no re-pressing”. It is assumable that the band will never release anything on CD, or make a record available to a wider audience, which fits the mysterious atmosphere of the album perfectly. The cover art adds to this feeling as well, the grief-stricken face of death is fraught and the death of many seem to burden its own sorrow. What lies there where eyes should be is like the album’s nature. Black Esoteric Evangelium does not merely sound mysteriously, it truly is!

For an album to get a score like this, the guitar department must be fabulous. Believe me, it is. Don’t be picky about the axemanship, for black metal was never about that. It is the sheer quality of the melodic riffs and how it works with the rest of the album’s aspects that lifts this album above most music I heard so far. As the band roots are entangled in Burzum’s earliest opuses, their offshoot reaches for vestal skies, they succeeded in sounding quite unique. It would be impossible to get any closer to the feeling of the old days of Varg’s band without being a rip-off. To elaborate on the guitar sound, Remains Of A Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul by Mütiilation would fit as a comparison that I did not mention earlier. Despite this being a true classic, is it surpassed by this Noenum album. While enchanted with the a similar form of sorrow, beauty and grief, the Finnish add more power, a sniff of hate, destructive rhythm and even some sort of hypnotic catchiness to their riffs, while keeping this extremely high standard intact by coming up with a set of new riffs that are as simplistic as they are brilliant on each song. However, as I brought up earlier, Noenum was first, Baptism’s guitar-work was very similar on the Wisdom & Hate LP, although it was not as consistent. For those that did not (yet) have the pleasure to listen to that album, another very close comparison is Nargaroth - Rasluka II.

Onto the production. My honest credit goes to whoever produced this masterpiece of traditional yet refreshing black art, for he managed to enhance the music with a stunning and perfectly appropriate sound. The vocals are not too high in the mix, and given the reverb they deserve to let them gain on their horrendous yet bitterly grieving tone. Spell sounds as if trapped in abysmal dept (or should I say life?) whilst screaming all his agony and hate to the surface. The guitarsound enjoys a little less reverb, and is pretty clear. The traditional buzz-sound and treble are present, but they do not spoil anything here. In short, the guitar sound is ideal. I’m glad this ever so pleasant guitarsound does not overshadow the drums, as tends to happen a lot on black metal albums. The solid drumsound caries the music, the drums are clear and unblemished, and when the double bass pedaling kicks in, a rolling thunder sort of lifts the music off its feet. Furthermore, despite a few hints, no bass today…

For a blackmetalhead, the album is quite easy to get into. Its mysterious, gloomy and sorrowful feeling without the use of keyboards is what the average fan of the genre will immediately appreciate. It won’t show all of its beauty in the first few listens though, and it will keep most interesting for a very long time. It’s perfectly stable, so you won’t have to skip anything and thus picking favorites is extremely hard. Ofcourse many will disagree on the perfect score, but I’m pretty sure most true blackmetalheads will agree that this is an amazing record. If you happen to like anything I compared it or its elements to, this is an entirely secure purchase. If you have not heard of any band I mentioned in this review, you are most unworthy!

Killing Songs :
For once truly, everything slays equally.
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