This is the third album from Canadian black metallers Miserere Luminis.
Miserere Luminis contain members of Conifère and Gris, and on Sidera they bring us 51 minutes of highly affecting atmospheric black metal. This is an uncommon journey that’s presented before you. Will you avail yourself of the gifts that Sidera has to offer?
Miserere Luminis play a form of black metal that focuses on atmosphere, melody, and emotion. All three are obviously deeply linked, and on Sidera they reinforce each other in a recursive loop that makes for songs that are greater than the sum of their parts. Sidera is an atmosphere-first album. There are no instant hooks, as it’s an absorbing, full-on, holistic experience to completely dive into. As impressive as it is on first encounter, it requires multiple spins to truly unveil its darkly alluring gifts.
Listening to Sidera is an immersive experience, where you are drawn quickly down into the music’s richly rendered world, lost forever in oceans of feeling and currents of shapeshifting texture. Post-black metal, avant-garde, and classical elements are key ingredients, incorporated into Sidera‘s multifaceted personality effortlessly. It’s black metal, but with vibrant streaks of melancholic colour. Crowned by vocals that are anguished screams, raw and rich with emotional weight, Sidera is a record that will cause you to pay attention, no matter what you’re doing.
Miserere Luminis are able to craft super-expressive songs that merge their influences at the cellular level. Each track sprawls with melodic grandeur and string-enhanced majesty. The compositions are intricate and carry subtlety and nuance within themselves. There’s capable aggression, but this is not the point of Sidera – this merely services the moods and feelings explored across the five tracks. The band display a fiery fury when they need too, but also boast a more varied palette of colours they are able to choose from.
The level of blackened content overall varies across the songs, depending on what any given part needs in order to fulfil its complex worldbuilding. Sidera deploys weapons-grade build and release mechanics that are remarkably effective, and the amount of emotive melody baked into the song structures is potent. A variety of paces and dynamics are used as necessary, bringing with them changes in feeling and direction. Sparsity and density operate on a scale, from light introspective strings alone, to furious walls of blistering, vivid sound. The music feels three-dimensional, well-drawn, and lusciously tangible. There is great beauty here, amidst the darkened soundscapes. Sidera is lavishly evocative in a way that most black metal is not.
This is quite the release. Sidera is extremely impressive. Miserere Luminis have created something that demands the listener’s attention, and holds it with ease.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 