Review: Thy Darkened Shade – Liber Lvcifer II: Mahapralaya

Style: Progressive Black Metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Batushka, Deathspell Omega, Emperor
Review by: Andy
Country: Greece
Release date: 10 January, 2023

I could not start my review discussing the change of year (and asking for forgiveness on my brief hiatus), or I could do the easy thing and mention them. So here we go: “grumble grumble January normally has bad music” and “I hope the new year is better than the last because of the state of the world” and “sorry I took a break from reviewing all your favorite underground progressive black metal releases.” I’m back everybody with another proggy black metal morsel, Greek band Thy Darkened Shade’s followup to Liber Lvcifer I, the aptly titled Liber Lvcifer II.

While the title and lyrics are trope-y black metal at its worst (or best), the music is anything but: From the first few seconds of “Luciftias,” fretless bass takes center stage in a perverted church hymn that snakes up and down the scale before evolving into contrapuntal harmony with the guitars. This string interplay astonishes throughout Liber Lvcifer II, playing with technicality uncommon in more blackened acts. What is common in more blackened acts is the lyrical approach; at my completely random moment in the album as I’m typing this, vocalist The A let out a wicked bellow of “Lucifer almighty.” If the vocals were monotonous, I may have more complaints to level against sixty-two minutes of Satanist propaganda, but the amalgamation of shrieks, growls, barks, spoken-ish drawls, and choral chants keeps the album’s momentum even through more repetitive Satan motifs. 

While I want to focus more on fretless bass–one of the more unique aspects of this album–I need to shout out Semjaza for his unhinged axework, too. On “Into Eerie Catacombs,” he dances around the fretboard in a techy groove, shimmering, sickly tremeloes sounding like Panegyrist gone heretical. In fact, Liber Lvcifer II can be seen as pushing against that emergent hegemony of theologically inclined avant-garde acts in experimental black metal spaces (Panegyrist, Temple Nightshade, Liturgy) back toward residual satanism. Bringing black metal back to its roots and all that. I, too, miss the days of church burnings and murder. 

Thy Darkened Shade, however, haven’t perfected black metal with their twisted take on the classics. Liber Lvcifer II is too much of a good thing as its hour plus runtime becomes disorienting. The nauseating riffs and sexy fretless bass still destabilize with true success throughout, but each track bleeds into each other as if Thy Darkened Shade forgot to put a tarp down before their sacrificial ritual and the blood got all over their studio’s white carpet. The bloody aesthetic is right, but perhaps a more trim runtime would prevent my listening fatigue. Additionally, the album rarely breaks stylistic character; the biggest departure “Veneration for the Fireborn King” has an intro riff that swaggers into my life like it owns the place. Kvaen in all their blackened speed metal glory only barely top “Veneration” in self-assurance.

If you love Satan, have a rendezvous with Thy Darkened Shade. I can’t promise they’ll treat you nicely (and you may get sacrificed to the Angel of Light himself), but Liber Lvcifer is the best proggy take on standard black metal we’ve heard in a while. The production sounds fantastic in particular since I can hear every clack of the finger hitting the string like the organic production of Ad Nauseam, and each guitar part feels right in place. I’m glad fretless seems to be finally infiltrating black metal with this and Tómarúm. I wager this album will be more influential in the undercurrents than one would expect.

Recommended tracks: Into Eerie Catacombs, Qelippot Epiphany, Veneration for the Fireborn King
You may also like: Temple Nightshade, Panegyrist, Tómarúm
Final verdict: 7.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: World Terror Committee Productions – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Thy Darkened Shade is:
– Semjaza (guitars, bass, vocals)
– The A (vocals)