I just don’t get philosophy.  That’s not a knock, although as a student of the hard sciences sometimes I do get riled up in the debate about what “counts” as a “real” science, but mostly it’s just that I don’t get it. Maybe I’m a dum-dum who needs data tables and graphs to make sense of anything, maybe I’m not good at close reading of dense texts, but you know what helps me understand complex philosophical ideas?  Black metal.  And Occulta Veritas gives it to me exactly like I like it on Irreducible Fear of the Sublime.

Occulta Veritas is the proper debut release from Daniele Vergine, the guitarist from chaotic blackened hardcore outfit Noise Trail Immersion.  Occulta Veritas branches off from the same blackened, chaotic roots, this time fully embracing the post-black metal lifestyle and opting for a tighter focus on melody and beauty.  The chaotic elements lend themselves towards the Yellow Eyes/Altar of Plagues end of the black metal spectrum, although it’s definitely not atonal.  The dissonance and intensity serve to illustrate the beauty inherent in darkness, a key theme of the album.  Also strongly influencing Irreducible Fear is the aforementioned philosophy, specifically the psychoanalytic work of Jacques Lacan.  Once again, I’m no philosopher, so if I get this wrong you’re free to yell at me in the comments, but essentially the album touches on the ideas of the unknowable self, the futility of language, the insatiability of desire and the idea that all people are either psychotic, perverse or neurotic (personally, I can knock out all three before lunch).  Irreducible Fear is definitely a labor of love from Vergine, as its lyrics touch on his personal interest in psychoanalytics and all the production and instrumentation except bass guitar (courtesy of fellow Italian Gabriele Ponziano) were handled by him.

The thing that immediately draws me in to Irreducible Fear is the same quality that I look for in bands like Krallice, Yellow Eyes and Thantifaxath: the dissonance and chaos and angular melodies might seem like noise for noise’s sake to the untrained ear, but these compositions are extremely well thought out and purposeful.  Opener “The Mirror Stage” is a good example of how Vergine fits his unique style of songwriting into a black metal context and makes it both unconventional and highly listenable.  There is a strong sense of melody that connects each of the six tracks, and while the point of the album is to veer off into “weird” territory, in each track there is always something to pull you back to center.  Similarly, Vergine uses dynamics in a very clever way to keep the songs digestible.  Whether it’s tempo shifts, volume shifts or tonal shifts, each track also features movements that flow and break up the song into enough chunks that the whole experience feels inviting instead of overwhelming.  Most importantly, the performance aspect here is solid gold.  Not having been familiar with Noise Trail Immersion before listening to this record, I now feel compelled to go and check out everything Vergine has done, because his unique approach to riffing and composition intrigues me in a way that I haven’t been in a long time from a black metal guitarist.  He and Ponziano make a great team holding down the fort and bringing some well-needed heart and soul to a work that is heavily based on the brain and analytics.

Turns out, there’s nothing to fear at all on Irreducible Fear of the Sublime.  There’s only an irreducible chance of a good time!  Is that anything?  I think I’ve successfully landed way out of my element so I’m just gonna…go.  Enjoy this listen, it’s objectively great, even if objectivity itself is a lie.

-Ian

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Irreducible Fear of the Sublime is available July 19 on I, Voidhanger Records.  For more information on Occulta Veritas, visit their Facebook page.