Drastus – La Croix de Sang

March 2019 – Norma Evangelium Diaboli

Being picked up by Norma Evangelium Diaboli and being held to the same standards as the legends of dissonant black metal, namely Deathspell Omega and Teitanblood, is both an honour and a curse, as you'll inevitably end up being compared to said masters. While Drastus isn't nearly as chaotic as Deathspell Omega, it certainly isn't your average 3^rd wave Bandcamp project – they've nailed the whole uncomfortable, smothering vibe in a similar way to Hexis, weaving chromatic shifts disorienting and confusing.

Songwriting is Drastus's forte, exchanging riffs and hooks for a more fluid, almost liquid approach to composition. Not nearly as angular or obtuse as its predecessors, La Croix de Sang feels more like a death by drowning than by a thousand cuts – the mesmerizing cyclical melodies are unending and darken with every revolution, like a light dying from above as one sinks to the depths. And while the guitars fill your lungs, the drums are the merciless concrete weight pulling you further. When the riffs are replaced with chords, percussion is the best way of introducing dynamics – from unorthodox cymbal rhythms to conventional blasts, the songs flow and thrash like a river crashing into a waterfall.

The vocal performance is nothing extraordinary for black metal, though the clean sections are worth a mention – ghostly vibrato ringing eerily in the distance over ringing strings is a fitting approach for such a project. Singing in key while the music morphs like some ethereal being confused by its form is a challenge, yet Drastus pushes on and ends up with another layer of dissonance, another shot fired into the dead body of harmony.

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