Irae Satanail debuts in 2023 with a dark album titled ‘Gnosis Necrosófica’ (Necrosophical Gnosis).
Irae Satanail is a Blackened Death Metal band that originated in 2005 as Sucorbenoth in the city of Pasto, Colombia. The original lineup consisted of Xataroth Thaumieltithan on guitar/vocals and Gamaliel Adoratio on drums. Later, new members joined: Khem on vocals, Kadath on bass, and Goaten on guitar. In 2017, Kalath joined on second guitar and Alastor on bass.
It is a concept album, as Gnosis Necrosófica means the wisdom of the dead. The themes center on the cult of death that developed in different parts of the world, thus bringing together diverse topics into a single concept: the worship of the macabre and Luciferianism, in general. The album showcases years of work from a band with a deep respect for the dark arts and a total devotion to the macabre, as is often the case in South American music, which boasts a vast knowledge of extreme metal.
The band delivers an album that blends black and death metal styles, but across its 11 tracks, we encounter a troubadour-like atmosphere where epic themes are their fundamental weapon in the fight against their worst demons. There are many influences from folk metal, replete with acoustic guitars that lend it a spiritual air of the rawest nature. The album opens with its title track, "Gnosis Necrosófica," which introduces us with a black mass-like piano intro, leading into a mid-tempo song with immeasurable rhythmic shifts and Arabic-influenced melodies in its lead guitar. The tracks lack a bit of sonic punch; if the bass had been recorded slightly higher, it would have gained power and ferocity. But it's not a bad album in the genre. That said, it sounds more Power Metal than blasphemous.
'Antikosmos' has some interesting moments in the guitars, where they enchant us with solemn melodies and riffs that stray a bit from the extreme; that's where the band's class shines through when it comes to rescuing other styles and making them their own. The messages are perfectly clear; Khem's delivery is quite sharp, and the lyrics spat from his festering throat are perfectly decipherable.
'La Obsidiana de Mictlan' fuses those metallic tempos with progressive touches and the malevolence of South American lands, but this track has a strong troubadour feel. It could easily be a Folk Black Death Metal track, without a doubt. A song with a rich composition and rhythmic shifts.
'Legiones de la Noche' is a typical blackened track with its appropriate melodies and those rhythmic grooves that make you headbang. A track to raise your fist high. ‘Kalunga Ngombe’ gallops along at a mid-tempo pace, making the dead dance, where the drummer and guitarists deliver a double feature that will make your teeth rattle. ‘La Danza Anticósmica de Kali y Natarash’ (The Anti-Cosmic Dance of Kali and Natarash), a track brimming with feeling and dark beauty, even instills in us passages with more crystalline chants, including violin sounds. As always, those versatile melodies that these six-string virtuosos deliver are ever-present. And they close the album with ‘Necrofilica copulación con la Madre de Jesucristo’ (Necrophilic Copulation with the Mother of Jesus Christ), with their particular way of understanding darkness in an epic fashion, leaving not a single head unscathed in this battle that lasts almost an hour…
If you like the fusion of troubadour, folk, heavy, progressive, and blackened death metal, then this is a good album. I'm a little put off by the experimentation with Folk Metal and the more extreme sources, but I recognize that 'Gnosis Necrosófica' is a good debut from some experienced musicians capable of bringing this project to fruition.
Official promo video: youtube.com/watch?v=NY42VclpeaU
Official promo video: youtube.com/watch?v=C-uFyVVUSZ4
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=njN5c3WdQKY&t=712s
