Info
- Band(s): Parfaxitas
- Label(s): Terratur Possessions
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, CD
- Release Year: 2024
- Review Date: October 15, 2024
- Author(s): VincentP
Parfaxitas, the archdemon that rules over astral thunderstorms. Ruler of wrath, fevers, vengeance and atavism. That who can gives rise to chaos, destruction and death through acts of sorcery. And a fitting name for a brand-new Black Metal entity that combines musicians from Norway, Iceland and the United States. Contained within we find a union of Whoredom Rife vocalist K.R., Sinmara and Slidhr drummer B. Einarsson, Oculus, Merilem and Menetheren guitarist Azlum and the bass player of Suffering Hour, YhA. Its existence was first revealed in March 2023 on the digital ‘Terratur Compendium MMXXIII’, but it’s only now, with the imminent release of ‘Weaver of the Black Moon’, that we can fully grasp what forces are contained within.
One could easily be tempted to think that the debut of the band would sound like a mix of Norwegian, Icelandic and American Black Metal, and that isn’t necessarily a wrong description. Indeed, ‘Weaver of the Black Moon’ sounds most distinctly as a mix between Sinmara and Nightbringer, rounded off with K.R.’s trademark vocals. It combines the ever-shifting landscape of drums that B. Einarsson displays with Sinmara and on the most recent Slidhr album, with the very lead-based guitar approach of Nightbringer’s latest record ‘Terra Damnata’. But Parfaxitas is more than something that sounds like those band. One element that certainly distinguishes them is the fretless bass play of YhA, which adds a rich and diversifying layer to the music. Furthermore, the guitars are layered in a manner in which they often antagonize each other, creating a whirlwind of elements that come across as unnerving and unsettling. By no means dissonant, it rather forms a complex and volatile whole of repetitive melodies, meandering bass, shifting drums and K.R. deeply devoted vocals.
In a track like ‘Breath of the Thoughtless’ the nervous riffs have an mesmerizing atmosphere to them, as if you’re being seduced by chaos. ‘Golachab: the Avenging Sword’ is a massive song with gliding riffs, asynchronous guitar parts and intense, almost poetic barking of K.R. The title track is my personal favorite, an unsettling song, furious in changes of pace with an ominous buzz to it all. The closing track ‘Sea of Blood/Fields of Nightmares’ is a terrifying track in which the band builds in an entrancing fashion towards a cacaphony of elements: two or three guitar parts, fretless bass, dynamic drums and several vocal layers combine and explode into a chaotic apotheosis. Yet is contains a sense of bombast to it, not unlike the atmosphere of for instance Emperor.
‘Weaver of the Black Moon’ is a layered album, one that contains many secrets. It has a certain simplicity and grandeur in the melodies that give it almost hypnotising qualities. It is alluring in its deceptive beauty, but in the end will lead to being consumed by an overwhelming darkness.
