Finland's one-man black-metal band Devouring Star has a majesty about it — a sovereign feeling that many black-metal bands strive for but few actually grasp. It's this imperial feeling emerging from the blackest depths that produces the most impressive of black metal offerings. Bands like Mgła, Emperor, Absu and Immortal all have it — storytelling in music without saying a word.
Musically, Devouring Star approaches black metal in its own unique way, tipping the cap to bands like Antaeus, Deathspell Omega, Funeral Mist and others. The latest single from the band's forthcoming LP The Arteries of Heresy is the track "Her Divine Arteries," which spends a good portion of time in half speed a la Urfaust before opening up into full blasting territory.
Devouring Star mainmain JL's vocals are nothing if not rancorous and vicious, tying in the slow with the fast in a way where it never feels plodding or unnatural, just plain evil. Stream it above for the first time and order your copy via Dark Descent in the US or Terratur in the EU.
Devouring Star's JL had this to say about the new track: "'Her Divine Arteries' is the last track and the culmination of The Arteries of Heresy. The track wraps up the concept of the album, mankind being the ultimate image of Sin and Heresy — the Whore of Babylon herself rather than God.
"As there is to all things,
so there is an end to us.
Not in the grandeur of salvation,
but in the arms of perdition."
