ALBUM REVIEW: In Tenebris – Naraka

French newcomers NARAKA picked a bad time to get together. The four-piece formed in 2019 and had barely signed on the dotted line before you-know-what happened and the world shut down. No one could have blamed them if they’d thrown the towel in at that point, but they’ve soldiered on and are now ready to drop their debut. It’s an impressive statement of intent too, not bad for a band who’ve yet to play a single live show.

In Tenebris is, to all extents and purposes, an extreme metal equivalent of Frankenstein’s Monster. NARAKA take influences from just about every metal subgenre you can name and cobble them together into one violent, angry beast. It is a little scattershot and doesn’t always work, but In Tenebris hits the proverbial bullseye multiple times and some of these tracks are fiendish. Cursed is the first proper song and is a thoroughly unsubtle introduction. It’s a nightmarish tale of hideous beings rising from the ocean depths to attack mankind, told with blast beats, razor-edged guitar riffs and Theodore Rondeau’s ruptured-trachea vocals. It’s a no-frills pit-igniter and thanks to the keen production work of MACHINE HEAD’s Logan Mader, it sounds great.

What it isn’t though, is Gothic, so when Of Blood And Tears swoops in like a raven carrying the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe, it’s a mild surprise. Veronica Bordacchini, the soprano vocalist from FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, makes a guest appearance and the contrast in vocal styles, coupled with a greater emphasis on symphonics, makes this song come across like an evil version of NIGHTWISH. It’s not a huge home run, but it does demonstrate that NARAKA have more on their mind than simple mosh thuggery.

Later, Darkbringer neatly straddles both the Gothic and death metal worlds. The brutally aggressive vibe is present and correct, but so are some eerie melodic passages. NARAKA resemble a beefed-up CRADLE OF FILTH here and that’s only rammed home on the following Mother Of Shadows. This one features another guest singer in the shape of Lindsay Schoolcraft and her duet with Rondeau makes for a memorable highlight. She sounds beautifully tragic and the whole thing radiates sorrow, even as it rages like a wounded Uruk Hai.

Elsewhere, Sleeping In Silence is an off-kilter little number where eerie, dreamlike sequences are routinely interrupted by random bursts of death metal. It’s a weird but atmospheric song that in isolation probably wouldn’t work, but in the context of the album fits perfectly. There’s also The Black, which sees them channelling their love of GOJIRA into a stomping, fist-swinging brute, and the delightfully heavy The Great Darkness. The relentless pace is bound to make this a future live favourite and it’s a last shot of adrenaline before In Tenebris reaches the finale. The piano-led Compendium Maleficarum draws things to a close on a sombre instrumental and while it’s more of an extended outro than a fully-fledged song, it’s a cool way to bring the curtain down.

NARAKA then have set themselves up well despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding their origin. In Tenebris isn’t perfect and there are a couple of missteps (Dream And Wait especially is an easily-skippable filler track), but this is a very sturdy foundation for them to build a career on. It’s a dark and occasionally creepy album, one that seems to have been written with both cage fighters and HP Lovecraft devotees in mind.

Rating: 8/10

In Tenebris is out now via Blood Blast Distribution.

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