Fides Inversa - Hanc Aciem Sola Retundit Virtus (The Algolagnia Divine)
Osmose Productions
Black Metal
4 songs (45:52)
Release year: 2009
Fides Inversa Myspace, Osmose Productions
Reviewed by Kyle

With the average black metal band straying further and further away from the pagan ways of their Norwegian forefathers with each passing year, adding more progressive and even (Satan forbid!) mainstream moments to its modern form, it’s becoming increasingly easy to identify these bands without even listening to a single second of their music. And just by examining the debut full length by Italian metallers Fides Inversa, Hanc Aciem Sola Retundit Virtus (The Algolagnia Divine) (From here on I’ll refer to it as HASRV), you’d think they’d certainly belong in the group viewed as nothing short of blasphemy by the genre purists. Only four songs present, none of which fall below the ten-minute mark? Not a single snowflake or droplet of gray on the album cover? A perfectly legible logo? The signs are all here. Ah, but one cannot judge a book by its cover, and there is certainly nothing progressive or truly melodic afoot. There are no clean vocals, no lengthy passages of distorted guitar fuzz, and no symphonic arrangements present. It’s blastbeats all the way through for Fides Inversa, but all the same, they are not a traditional black metal band in any sense.

Fides Invera easily misleads you into thinking you’ve stumbled upon yet another atmospheric black metal band when they present you with the first minute and a half of album opener Decollatio. Some soft electronic melodies and noise is played, giving you the impression of being stranded on a frozen winter plain at night. And then the instruments kick in. The first opening salvos of heavy riffs and double bass drives are very surprising and, after the drawn-out intro, very welcome. The first thing that really struck me was the production: It’s really, really good for a new BM band on their first outing. Not only does each instrument stand out clear as day (Or the Northern full moon at night, take your pick), but they all sound very powerful, giving a sense of heaviness that isn’t often matched in the scene. Overall, it’s easy to interpret FI’s sound as a heavier, more straightforward variation of Cobalt: very well performed, and easily accessible, though the band lacks the wonderful acoustic bits and the level of complexity that their fellow Coloradoan genre-men possess.

HASRV is a concept album revolving around Fides Inversa’s own vision of an inversion of the Judeo Christian faith – an interesting and original idea, though I may have interpreted this information incorrectly, since I haven’t managed to find any lyrics (The throaty rasps are, as expected, difficult to make out, and I expect they’re done in Latin) and the band’s description of the concept doesn’t delve much into details. It’s unfortunate, as a better idea of the lyrical content could’ve made this album much more enjoyable.

As I said before, Fides Inversa strays far from the established black metal sound while still being wholly familiar; the riffs aren’t all too grim, and the vocals are far from chilling, but this Italian duo is very good at what they do: writing heavy music for all who care to listen and enjoy. There are two highlights on HASRV: Decollatio is the heaviest and most entertaining track here, and features some of the best riffs on the album, while album closer Algolagnia Divine toys with some slower tempos at parts, along with more diverse songwriting. The album on a whole, however, suffers from a case of monotony – if you’re not paying attention, it’s all too easy for the songs to bleed into one another, and there truly isn’t much to set each song apart.

In the end, though, HASRV is a big, meaty slab of heavy black metal that’s ultimately entertaining to listen to, and that doesn’t outstay its welcome. I can’t exactly recommend that you immediately shell your hard earned bits of currency to support this up-and-coming band, as they haven’t quite reached that level of versatility and originality yet, but if you’re craving a quick and satisfying black metal fix and can find a reasonably priced copy of this online, I’d say go for it, by all means; you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

Killing Songs :
Decollatio, Algolagnia Divine
Kyle quoted 77 / 100
Other albums by Fides Inversa that we have reviewed:
Fides Inversa - Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans reviewed by Charles and quoted 85 / 100
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