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Secrets of the Moon are a black metal band from Osnabrück, Germany, and Seven Bells is the newest release in their prolific history. Founded in 1995, they have always maintained a strong underground following, but caught attention of the larger metal community when they released Antithesis in 2006. Secrets of the Moon then gained more mainstream exposure in 2007 when they performed at both Summer Breeze and Hellfest.


Privilegivm in 2009 continued their solid reputation. Now, they are in a strange position for a black metal band: attempting to hang on to their cult status and relationship to the underground while enjoying some mainstream success. Seven Bells is very much an album that attempts to maintain a very careful aesthetic balance while still innovating – and it succeeds.

Seven Bells is also a flawed album, but those flaws all emerge from an impulse to create something new, to combine sounds and emotional textures in innovative ways. Some of these experiments fall flat: the tracks on the latter half of the album are drawn out too long, and seem to fragment and break apart, like icebergs cracking into pieces before they melt and disintegrate.

The later tracks do have very strong elements, like on “The Three Beggars,” where the overlapping voices are powerful, but in the end are not strong enough to hold the song together as it devolves into the feedback-drenched, shuddering outro. Despite this decay, the last three songs have moments that are capable of making the listener's hair stand on end.

The first four songs on Seven Bells, however, have stronger architectural ties, and vast, towering structures of eschatological sound. The title tracks roars out of the gate with ambitious, punishing drums that are as dynamic as they are cruel. The doomier, crawling feel of “Goathead” is well suited to the longer-format songs that Secrets of the Moon favour. “Blood Into Wine” has an energetic, rolling, rock pace to it that is nonetheless ominous despite it's breathless momentum.

sG's vocals have a spat-out quality that reminds me of Tom G. Warrior's work on Tryptikon. There are moments when his black vocals are layered with sutble, melodic cleans are particularly wonderful. Each track on the album begins with the peal of a different bell, a conceit that ties the Seven Bells together conceptually and also cements it's reference to the Book of Revelation.

The imperfection of Seven Bells is it's strength: Secrets of the Moon demonstrate a willingness to experiment, and even shatter their own sound. This marks a huge step forward for the band despite the faltering, and speaks well of their next effort, where the great work on Seven Bells will be further refined.

(released April 10, 2012 on Lupus Lounge/Prophecy Productions)



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