Hailing from Germany, Furis Ignis is a black metal entity helmed by an anonymous sole member. “Decapitate the Aging World” is the debut album released by Iron Bonehead Productions on January 14th, 2022. Though there is a very clear influence to circa 1994 black metal bands like Satyricon, the album cover art provokes nostalgic memories from Dimmu Borgir’s album “For All Tid”, with the magical image of some ancient castle and a wandering knight you can surely expect some raw coldness. Furis Ignis, with its well-crafted guitars and synth sections, invade your mind with a certain spell while the dark atmospheric moments play a pivotal element for the music. Even being relatively new to the European black metal scene, Furis Ignis succeeded to craft the raw and the primitive feeling with the epic touch of the synth.

The opening track “Witness the Nightsky Palpitating to the Beat of Premonition” conveys a sense of the unique archaic nature of the music, the ambient tone of the synth immediately spread the charm and the guitars bring plenty of aggressive riffs. Simultaneously the guitar tone is superiorly raw and fits the menacing vocals. The tremolo-picked riffs are heavily used and there are moments when the bass guitar interacts with the blasting drums even though the whole focus is laid upon the riffing faculty. Musically the composer creates many fascinating moments the songs, in general, are played in the mid-tempo style of black metal.

Seamlessly, “Hostis Mundi” ventures into the dark brooding mood but the influence of early Gehenna, Emperor, and even Satyricon gives it an ancient feel. When the guitars and synth are conjured the music becomes epic, and despite the lo-fi production the drums and the bass guitar sound audible and clear. There is ample space for the guitars to maneuver on different chord changes. “Guarding The Gate” is one of the fastest songs that begins with down-tuned guitars, until the heavy riffing gets accompanied by fast drumming. Consequently, the ten minute length of this song blends synth in the background and the obscuring tremolos-picked riffs cleave like a sharp tool against the grinding drums. Raspy black metal vocals mesh together with the haunting tremolos and there is something dark and hypnotic about the music.

With its ebbing quality, “Decapitate the Aging World” bids tribute to timeless albums of the Norwegian black metal. A lot of the riffing provides depth to the songs, the aggressive take on the music combines sheer power. There’s a rawer tone in the guitars and the croaky vocals and repetitive synth sections become somewhat hypnotic as if the music drags you deep into the time loop of the nineties era. The keyboards are utilized in precise moments without sounding overused and that’s one of the key elements of the album.

For the kind of atmosphere that fulfills the quench for the dungeon synth fans, “Zinnen von Eis” is comprised entirely of synth, providing three minutes of dreamy moments of lo-fi quality. The dynamic shift to Teutonic thrash/black metal is widely showcased on “C.B.M.G.3” where the guitars inject frantic riffing that will rip off your ears. Incursions of aggressive guitars provide filthy and raw black metal riffs, the drums offer powerful double bass and the soaring guitar solo section increases the thrill of this track. There are plenty of influences from old school metal, especially with the guitar effect that recalls bands like Bathory and German black metal bands like Desaster. 

“Donner in den Bergen” is one of the slower songs, played with the plodding pace of the drums. The down-tuned guitars ooze filthy black metal riffs, immediately showing the wide influence of the composer. Slow yet aggressive, the music settles into the slower tempo.

At its length of thirty-nine minutes I wish there were more songs. Furis Ignis builds its music upon the foundation of black metal and “Decapitate the Aging World” is an impressive record that demonstrates the ability to wield powerful guitar riffs yet with atmospheric touches of ambient/dungeon synth that will appeal to the fans of black metal. This is probably one of the strongest releases in black metal for the start of year 2022.

Release Date: January 14th, 2022
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Tracklisting:

1. Witness the Nightsky Palpitating to the Beat of Premonition
2. Hostis Mundi
3. Guarding the Gate
4. Zinnen von Eis
5. C.B.M.G.3
6. Donner in den Bergen