Opus Irae: Into The Endless Night |

Classic and Dark Opulence

(Endtime Productions – 2024)

Opulence would be perhaps the first word that comes to my mind when I listen to this album, or perhaps more exactly it would be “pretentious”, and believe me I am not exaggerating. In “Into The Endless Night” everything is worked as not to go unnoticed, especially because it shows a great work, from any point of view you want to see it, whether production, composition, sound, etc..
I may be ignorant but as far as I remember, this would be the first band I know that is enrolled in Black Metal coming from Germany, a country more related perhaps to Thrash Metal or Power Metal historically. Anyway, welcome is the first full-length from Opus Irae, a band that exists since 2011 and that after several releases as singles and feints, is encouraged to release their first major album.

Opus Irae is a band with six members, in particular two vocalists (female and male), two guitarists, a keyboardist and the obligatory drummer. Perhaps what is most noticeable is the absence of a bass player, although my ears do not deceive me, someone must have played the damn bass, although the credits do not mention it (another possibility is to have recreated it in a synthesized way… who knows). The band is part of the symphonic variant of Black Metal, with strong influences of classical music, with passages that remind a little bit the orchestral parts of the first period of Rhapsody, saving the distances of course, and with a lot of influence also of gothic music. The typical elements of the most extreme variant of Black Metal are present, but mixed with classical, epic and even medieval orchestrations. All this contributes to an atmosphere appropriate to each song on this album, which converges significantly with the message to be conveyed, both in lyrics and music. That turns out to be a great success. On the other hand, I would dare to say that there is actually more symphonic music with Black Metal elements than vice versa, but well, that’s just an opinion. Anyway, it can be said that the experiment gets a pass.
“Into The Endless Night” has 10 tracks, among which are ‘The Burden Of Man’ and ‘Requien Aeternam’, songs that those who come following the band already knew from before due to the fact that they had been released as singles between 2015 and 2019, shows that Opus Irae has been preparing this album for quite some time already. The Nordic and Scandinavian feel of each of the tracks is very noticeable.
Among the rest of the songs we find the interesting “The Battle At His Great Return” and “The Vision Of Resurrecting Flesh” that remind us a lot of Rhapsody, in their symphonic parts, although of course, in this case they are recreated by real music and instruments like flutes and cellos, with excellent arrangements. The instrumental piece, “Strict Canon In A Minor” gives way to the melancholic “Lament”, vocalized in Latin only by Stern, female voice of Opus Irae, one of the best excuses to give this work a chance. Another of the good songs of this album is “War Everlasting”. The rest of the album, not bad and always within the same line raised. There are no guitar solos but there are fast and furious riffs, although the base is always the tremendous orchestration that Opus Irae prints to each song, with a strong predominance of keyboards. The vocals, divided between Dorn and Stern, show guttural, high-pitched and female vocals of great caliber, completing an optimal work, reminding us a little bit of the old Paramaecium.

In the lyrical part we are going to find lyrics that do not go for the side of the typical Christian message, but rather have a great epic sense, telling interesting stories, at times melancholic and even many passages in Latin are used, all in a framework that goes according to the musical part. Regarding the sound, we have noticed that everything has been recorded in parts, in several studios and with different recording engineers, probably at different times, which further enhances the work of mixing and mastering, which manages to enhance the classical instrumental parts without neglecting the guitars and percussion, and all this without everything being a ball of sound. More than a positive point.
As for the graphic aspect, we have as cover a not very original painting, which rescues the concept that Opus Irae wants to transmit with this work. Anyway, the inner envelope has great graphic quality, possessing the lyrics and several photographs of the members of Opus Irae, but hiding a little bit the aspects and technical data of this disc.
All in all, I’m not entirely sure that this work by Opus Irae will eventually become a cult album. It is not that what the band shows in this album is novel or original, but it can be said that there is a lot of dedication, care in the details and effort in this work.The result is more than optimal and hopefully the first step to great things for Opus Irae.
Interestingly, this great album is not only available on compact disc, but also on vinyl, which is to be applauded. To find out more and to see how to get it, try http://www.endtimeproductions.com/