Obscurus Advocam

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.

6.4 / 10 — Kevin Fitzpatrick