Hailing from the mystical lands of Albion, an occult duo known as Sword of Dis presents us with their latest ritualistic offering Cor Mundum Crea In Me, Sanctum Ignis, which according to the band roughly translates to Create In Me A Clean Heart, O Holy Fire! This album sports a dark fusion of technical black metal, doom, and ritualistic ambiance that sets the mood for the album as a whole. Touching upon the sacred writings of Zoroaster and taking inspiration from other Gnostic teachings and transform it into an interesting release as a whole.
There’s a lot going on with this release. The real meat and potatoes of it all comes from the first half of this 4 track EP. The first and second track lay out the heavier and more metal side of the album. The first track, which I will call more of an intro, sport some ominous chanting, dark synths, and a slow and heavy guitar riff that gets the atmosphere situated for the rest of the tracks. The second track, which is also the title track, is where a lot of the metal lies. The drums and spastic and frantic, with riff changes left and right, giving it a sort of ‘avant-garde’ attempt. I say attempt mainly because the first half of the track sounds quite literally all over the place. From the dizzying blast beats and wobbly guitar riffs and some low growls thrown over it. It almost sounds like they weren’t sure how exactly to start the song so they threw everything on the wall and hoped it sticked. Later on the track they’re able to find their footing again and the tracks becomes almost hypnotic with the incredibly fast blast beats and repeating guitar riffs. I also like to think there’s two ‘endings’ to this track. The first being right after said blast beat part with ambient noises and a distant organ reintroducing the guitars for the true ending of the track.
The remainder two tracks on the EP are more laid back, with twinkly and rather beautiful guitar parts and great use of clean vocals, really pushes forward the heavy spiritual atmosphere this EP has. There are a few faster paced moments but they tend to stay in the mid-paced blast beat black metal type of range, but the progression in the songwriting is done much better than the title track I feel. The third track Moonlight Illumes Thee is my favorite off the release, combining the more complicated and faced paced moments with the laid back ambient parts for a rather memorable track that personally I wish could’ve been the whole EP.
Despite the second track, the release as a whole is well done and really pushes the bands true voice. They’re unique and able to stand out from your typical ‘avant-garde’ black metal line up, so that’s always a plus. This EP of theirs is the first I’ve ever heard of them but it certainly made an impact as I’m going back and listening to their first release Tides of Malediction and certainly looking forward to what ever else they have in the future. Fans of later DsO, or the Mystikaos label, you might find something to take away from Sword of Dis and their releases.