8th September 2024

Review: “SOLUS (Igne Natura Renovator Integra)” by Hammerfilosofi

“The EP is an inward journey of spiritual violence and cathartic soul-searching. Both musically and lyrically, it picks up from where The Desolate One left off and continues in a bold leap into the dark unknown… We want to take Black Metal back to its primeval and genuine meaning and purpose. To pick up the torch, and carry on the march that was begun centuries ago. We have no intention of reinventing the wheel, but to create and evolve what we consider to be Black Metal… Both musically and conceptually we want to bring back some of that rebellious pride, wrath, and danger – some Blood, Fire, and Death – that for us are mandatory ingredients in Black Metal… The EP is both a continuation of the debut and an ominous forewarning of what is to come. We continue our relentless march, spreading our sulfurous gospel” ~ NKTFR.

Aided and abetted by long time comrade Rune Vedaa from Forgotten Woods, who inked the lyrics for “SOLUS (Igne Natura Renovator Integra)” as well as Ergot who adds additional guitars to the opening pair of cuts, Norwegian-Italian duo – NKTFR and FCCM – also known as Hammerfilosofi, recorded during the Autumn and Winter of 2023 and 2024. Mastered by Magnus “Devo” Andersson (Marduk, Hulder, Vanhelgd) at Endarker Studio, it follows the critically acclaimed debut album “The Desolate One” from Hells gate…

…picking up where the album left off as if the band never left the studio, “Hunt or be Hunted” begins with a delicate dance macabre on an piano slightly out of tune, haunting, eerie and soaked in melocholia while screaming something wicked this way comes. Pulverising blast beats rise from the abyss as the beast awakens, the churning riffs and harsh yet aching vocals creating and cauterizing as it burns the ear canals. Warped samples of speeches feel like they have been stripped from a low budget horror film, adding depth, texture and atmosphere. Monstrous and foreboding the band send a chill down the spine with a cut that will have the discerning listener gripping the pillow tight, not sure whether to continue down the left hand path Hammerfilosofi offer or run away in fear. After the first eight and a half minute onslaught, “Alpha Ego” rears it’s ugly head with darker riffs and a slightly more direct nature. The vocals feeling like the cries of anguish of an impaled old man, lost in a tornado of percussive battery and guitars that burn the calloused hands that play the strings. Almost ethereal vocals appear in the latter half of the cut, warped samples returning in the finale to give another dimension.

Circling the drain of Blackened Death Metal, “Holy Fire” rattles the brains with chugging riffs and eerie electronics coiled around snippets of speeches, the artillery shelling drumming once again masterful. A chilling moment with a cinematic quality, it could easily be playing in the background during a psychological horror movie as the killer tortures the victims in a ritual for blood. A demented final offering in “Epigone of Tragedy” sees the return of vocals as those very victims scream out from their dark, damp basement hell. Their sounds are mearly part of the background as the soundtrack to the apocalypse plays out around them, tremolo picked guitars and blast beats creating the ominous atmospheric that sets the mood. Lurching guitars in the final third attack like waves, the blood thirsty turbulence unsettling to the very last moment. Not one for the faint of heart, the weak of mind or the genre purist, Hammerfilosofi have created a challenging but ultimately rewarding listen if you can stomach it [7.5/10]

Track Listing