Animus Herilis
Mater Tenebrarum
[Drakkar]


I have to admit the BM scene in my country is really great. We have so many fucking great UG bands (BEKHIRA, BELENOS, FUNERAL(R.I.P.), BLESSED IN SIN, SEIGNEUR VOLAND, VLAD TEPES...) that we can't complain ! Many of them are even now much better that some former Scandinavian bands which used to be considered as gods in the mid-90s ! Within this group of excellent bands come ANIMUS HERILIS. They were formed in 1997, but the actual line-up exists only since 2001, and their very first demo tape, "Demain sera le chaos" ("tomorrow will be the chaos") was out on July of 2001. It showed a great potential, this band was definitely a member of the French elite underground movement, which made the infamous DRAKKAR prods (yes, the label of GRAND BELIAL'S KEY, UNPURE and MUTIILATION) offer them a deal. So this second demo, out on January of 2002 on Drakkar is a pure masterpiece of hateful black metal. Not that it is very fast, but the lyrics are aggressive, the singer's voice (DAGONS) is raw as Hell (it is in my sense a mix between BURZUM's vocals & early IMMORTAL's grunts), and added to the primitive but efficient sound, this leads to a demo that could be compared for sure to the best moments of a band like MÜTIILATION ! It's not a typical "Southern French Black Metal-sounding demo" (you all know this kind of sound that BLESSED IN SIN, KRISTALLNACHT or OSCULUM INFAME have), which makes it even more interesting. ANIMUS HERILIS have their own style, they play it very well (no unskilled shitty musicians here !) and they believe in what they do. I wouls say the band's inspiration comes from BEHERIT, MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE, MÜTIILATION or PURITAS VIRGINUM, but this is not a copy of the mentioned bands !!! The band says it plays TRUE SATANIK BLACK METAL, I know this is a bit a cliché but listen to it and you'll understand they don't lie. The lyrics are in French, if you can understand them you will see how dark and hateful they are... Those on "le mort joyeux" were written by Charles Baudelaire, no need to tell you they are really depressive...

There are 4 songs written by the band and an excellent cover version of BEHERIT's "Sadomatic rites", and this demo is available as a tape (through Drakkar prods), limited to 500 hand numbered copies or as a CDR limited to 66 hand numbered copies, by contacting DAGONS (vocalist) at : herilis@aol.com

"je suis la maladie; cette douleur, je vous l'inflige; vous, les larbins du traitre; esclaves de la croix..." (taken from "Esclaves de la croix")

9 / 10


© 2003 lord pesten