Negotium Parambulans In Tenebris

When there is no information about a band anywhere on the internet, my interest becomes bigger for that particular band. On the occasion of “Negotium Parambulans In Tenebris”, the second full length album of Dominus Ira from Russia which was released in December of 2013, I began to search information for this band and as you may have already understood by the first sentence, I didn’t find anything. The listener by getting the cd in his hands, at first what will catch his attention the awesome cover. Pained in black and white, with symbolisms and very nice design, it reminds of painting of Dali. By opening the two-page booklet I was expecting to read some info about the band but neither in here they don’t give any information. So my curiosity and my expectations about the band’s music presence have reached the highest level.

The album contains seven compositions of overall duration of forty minutes. The music that Dominus Ira presents to us here belongs in the Scandinavian school with references to Doom, to slow Death and to depressive Black Metal. The riffs are quite inspired and interesting and they mainly are high pitched tremolo riffs other times fast and violent, other times slow and torturing, full of hatred and other times depressive, cold. Also the listener will come across heavy, atmospheric riffs too which reminds of Emperor while the technical ones are present too. However apart from the beautiful riffs, the band has worked also the structure of the compositions correctly, so the changes are happening very smoothly, the atmosphere and the feeling is highlighted in every different part of the album. So thereby the band achieves to catch the listener’s attention and to maintain his interest to a high level throughout the entire album.

The guitars are the instrument that stands out and characterizes the compositions. Their sound is clean and the listener can listen to every detail of the composition while they are played with accuracy without mistakes or instability, they deliver the feeling flawlessly. The bass is clearly audible and it has interesting lines, other times fast and brutal, other times slow, heavy and massive, it fills the sound correctly. The drums are quite lower in the mixture and it seems that their role is secondary as they just keep the pace without having something special or remarkable. The vocals are distant, harsh Black Metal vocals, quite raw, violent and quite expressing, they fit to the style of the compositions a lot. Finally, the production is bass and clean, while the mixture highlights the guitars which are the instrument that rule the music, but maintaining the balance that the compositions need. The lyrics are not contained in the cd and they are written in English.

Eventually, all this mystery around Dominus Ira worked in a positive way, as it lets the listener enjoy the music without having in his mind of people, studios and albums, that is the human and everyday things. A band making you feel that overcoming of the material world and delivering you to the fantastic one, is a great success and that is the purpose of art in general. Dominus Ira achieved that with their music, the feelings and the atmosphere that they offer. I think that “Negotium Parambulans In Tenebris” is a very good release and it worth to buy it.