Review / 200 Words Or Less
Obscurus Advocam
Verbia Daemonicus

Battle Kommand (2007) Kevin Fitzpatrick

Obscurus Advocam – Verbia Daemonicus cover artwork
Obscurus Advocam – Verbia Daemonicus — Battle Kommand, 2007

I've been told that France has been home to a few good bands over the years, but like you, aside from Air I'd be hard pressed to name them. Sure we've read about those wacky French kids jumping on the church-burning, murderous bandwagon, but can they play music? Well, let's just say they try, but don't quite get there. Obscurus Advocam tries, really tries to invoke the dread and despair created by their Scandinavian neighbors, but give off too much of a sheen and a polish to really pull it off.

This may seem like a non-sequitur, but remember when we first heard Thom Yorke's solo album and wondered why it wasn't just released as a Radiohead disc? What we have in Verbia Daemonicus is essentially a solo project of Glorior Belli founder Infestuus and there's that same futility to the album that brings nothing new to the genre and makes one wonder why it was released as a separate project in the first place. This album, as it turns out is better than the latest Glorior Belli release, but still manages to be painted by the same black-by-numbers songwriting that'll have more accustomed listeners reaching for the Burzum CD.

Obscurus Advocam – Verbia Daemonicus cover artwork
Obscurus Advocam – Verbia Daemonicus — Battle Kommand, 2007

Recently-posted album reviews

Personality Cult

Dilated
Dirtnap (2025)

I had a hard time starting this review. I can’t help coming back to the fact that it sounds like Marked Men. It does, maybe intentionally so, as Dilated is the second of Personality Cult’s albums that is produced by Jeff Burke of Marked Men and Radioactivity. But I don’t necessarily like to say a band sounds like another band … Read more

Various Artists

Her Head's On Fire/Arms Like Roses - Split
Double Helix (2025)

Her Head’s On Fire (NY, NY) and Arms Like Roses (New Haven, CT) team up on this split 7” with two new tracks (one each band) of post-hardcore tunes that are both massive and melodic in their own distinct ways. "Universal" is the track from Her Head’s On Fire. Recorded by the band’s guitarist Jeff Dean, "Universal" came from the … Read more

Dead Bars

All Dead Bars Go To Heaven
Iodine (2025)

Dead Bars has a unique talent of taking the everyday, the experiences you see and live all the time, and shining a new light on them to make them personal and interesting. I've written about it before, yet it's my job to say this again and to make it interesting. It's what Dead Bars does, so it only seems fitting … Read more