Tenebrarvm - Invoke Wrathful Lore

Tenebrarvm, from Beja, Portugal, was crafted as an old-school black metal project in the Summer of 2001 by Mordred under the name of Full Moon. In 2002 Seth (guitar) and Ragnarok (drums) joined. In the beginning of 2003, they were followed by Abnos (vocals) and Venom (keyboards), completing the first line-up, along bringing a definitive change of name to Tenebrarvm. Although without the participation of Venom and Seth due to a growing lack of time from their part that eventually led them to quit, the first recording came out one year later, in the Fall of 2003, a 3-track promo demo called ...For Doom And Decay.

By the end of 2003 a new guitar player, Anubis, joined, and about one year later, a 6-track EP, Under The Shade Of The Moon, was finally released, by Hell Unleashed Records. Right after this, Anubis quit and Ragnarok and Abnos left Beja, so the band was considered over.

However, some months later, Abnos and Mordred were invited to do some tracks for an Hell Unleashed Records' compilation, called Colheita 2005, and thus the band was back on the active, this time with a symphonic black metal sound. After the decision to continue was taken, a new EP started to take shape, and by the end of 2005, bearing the title Invoke Wrathful Lore and a brutal black metal sound, this same EP was finally finished. Following its release on the beginning of 2006, Tenebrarvm regrouped with Ragnarok and Venom.

Here I'm going to review this second EP from Tenebrarvm: "Invoke Wrathful Lore". This EP was released in February 2006, in a K7 100 hand-numbered edition from Hell Unleashed Records, which is composed of 4 tracks plus 2 interludes and a Dead Can Dance cover. Featured is a more brutal approach though with an ethereal edge.

The first thing you'll notice, above all, in the EP is that Tenebrarvm deserve to get a better studio and prodution: they don't practice a raw black metal as their production seems to lead, but a complex scheme of brutal strings that would be way more appreciated with a clearer distinction between instruments and sounds. The drums should have way more complexity added, because despite having some powerful and well-done breaks, as we can hear, for instance, on "Tears for Eternal Monuments", the base rhimes are from monotunous to tireant... Something that is easable forgotten if you take in consideration the powerfull guitar riffs that, unfortunately, aren't as shown as they should be.

But don't let fool yourselves by the harsh criticism I'm making on this guys: I'm doing it because Invoke Wrathful Lore lets them show some of the true potencial they have to do something really better, and this EP shows us a really good piece of black metal, brutal yet melodic, sometimes almost symphonic. That vein from them starts to show at the end of the third track, "The Shade of Ancient Towers", and the forth and last track from side A, "Aurora's Lunar Rise", shows us a completely new face of Tenebrarvm, probably with Burzum influmences, and that lets us thing how would it be to have a black ambient record from Tenebrarvm - something I would certainly like to hear.

Against the odds, this black metal band is one of those who make real sense from their lyrics, while avoiding the easy, one more point that makes me believe that they'll have a rising future. Scars Over the Firmament, a brutal statement that opens us to the side B of this EP, shows us their potential also in that vein.

All in all, this is an record you should have if you like to keep track of bands while they grow as artists. I won't say it is an excelent record, but I'll say that these guys have the potencial to do something great - and I'll be here to hear them grow. Although, if you intend to buy this EP, probably if should be better for you to wait for the upcoming re-release of the EP in CD - with a preferable format that edition will bring us some bonus tracks.