Adversarius - In Nomine Draconis Inferni (Void Wanderer Produc�ons / War Produc�ons) Review by Miloš Šebalj It is interes�ng to note howmost of the Dutch bands seems to cooperate with their local labels. OK, Void Wanderer gets more and more support from Portuguese War Produc�ons, but it is s�ll a label from the Netherlands. Might be that their bands cannot break through the borders. But I sincerely doubt it. It’s now a couple of years since I’ve gained trust from a couple of Dutch publishers, and one thing is obvious by now. They are all doing one hell of a job releasing and promo�ng their domes�c bands. Whether there is a special bond between them, some mutual agreement, support and understanding is beyond my knowledge. Whatever the case may be, it results in a giant load of (at the very least) promising names hailing from the nether regions of Europe. Some of them have already achieved a wider, interna�onal acknowledgement. Some of them, like Adversarius, have yet to go out and conquer. This is a young band, spawned just five years ago and I have a pleasure of listening to their debut full length. Just a couple of months ago they have released a song off the album on a split release with another Dutch act, Doodswens. Released on another Dutch label, Zwaertgevegt. What I want to say, and I’m saying it right at the beginning, is just go ahead and dig through the Netherlands’ black metal scene. Now, off to music… Another thing that has become characteris�c for black metal bands from the Netherlands is their lenience towards Scandinavia. There would be nothing weird with that fact (as most of the world looks up to the north), if there wasn’t for the apparent strive to take a couple of influences and fuse them together. So does Adversarius too. They are mostly looking towards Sweden. High-pitched lead guitar dominated throughout. Watain’s rabid way of dealing with faster parts is evident source of inspira�on. On the other hand, most of the melodic pieces induce a strong connota�on with Dissec�on. Even the ideological stream of Adversarius’ crea�on goes along the similar route as Jon did. On the other side of the ‘black metal border’ one can easily note some of that chilling sharpness of early Darkthrone. Even some of that par�cular eerie feeling of “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” glides in here and there. I would also like to add some of that Emperor’s musical prowess into the mix. Without the use of keyboards, or the elaborate arranging. But “In Nomine Draconis Inferni” mostly s�cks to the Swedish line. And does so with style. A�er a number of listening sessions, this record absolutely grew on me. The first thing that really got to my ear is the bass guitar. Almost like the man behind it was the leader of the band. Or the main composer. There’s a whole lot of spectacular passages which are s�cking out of the record. It makes for a dis�nct touch that li�s the album to an en�rely different level. Along with it, the drums seem to be without a pa�ern whatsoever, allowing for a highly dynamic song structures. They might be a bit under-produced, but audible enough in spite of a bit ‘foggy’ sound. I would also prefer a stronger vocal presence. I don’t think it is the problemwith the vocal performance, as it is convincing enough. There just needs to be more of them in the overall soundscape. While at vocals, I must commend the chants in “Musmahhu”, as they sit and fit into the track perfectly. When summarizing “In Nomine Draconis Inferni” one cannot but look at the cover art which is done brilliantly. If it was just si�ng at the CD shop it would certainly make me pick it up. Even if I didn’t know what was the album all about. Though it gives a pre�y clear picture of the content behind. Thus I got myself another Dutch strongpoint. Album a�er album, I make a stronger connec�on with their scene. At this point, my ears are fixed to what comes out of there. Definitely one of the more potent countries when it comes to black metal nowadays. Adversarius proves my point once again. h�ps://www.facebook.com/Adversarius.BlackMetal/
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