Secrets of the Moon
Privilegium

After three years of European and non-European tours, one of the most important Teutonic bands in today's black metal scene, the immense Secrets Of The Moon, return to hypnotize us with their sick, dark, and dissonant riffs thanks to their latest release: "Privilegium".

The album continues on the same path as the previous "Antithesis"; a path that is anything but smooth, but rather on the rise! "Privilegium" indeed shows that these three long years of waiting have brought an enormous amount of musical and lyrical maturity to SG and Co; also thanks to a new addition to the band's lineup, bassist LSK, coming from bands of no insignificant importance such as: Hell Militia, Corpus Christii, Vorkreist, and Antaeus.

But let's get to the crux of the matter, which is "Privilegium". The album is the darkest, most malevolent, and gloomy thing the band has composed so far; the tracks are perfectly linked to each other and the pathos remains constant throughout the duration of the work, which is about 65 minutes long. A great job has been done by SG regarding the lyrical and vocal aspect; in fact, the voice proves to be more effective than ever, intertwining perfectly with the guitar textures and thus creating an impenetrable sonic wall.

Excellent performance on the drums by the drummer T. Thelemnar, who is enviably precise and capable of emphasizing, with his power connected to technique, the mighty guitar riffs laid down by SG's guitars; an example of this can be found in the intense and majestic "Black Halo".

The guitars are powerful and exhilarating, charismatic riffs emerge in every track with consistent frequency; the works are also developed to bore the listener as little as possible, in fact, during the progression of the album, you can perceive rhythms with sustained tempos alternated with evocative mid tempos loaded with a strong dose of occult atmosphere; as in "I Maldoror" (whose lyrics are inspired by the little-known "Chants of Maldoror" by Isidore Ducasse), which turns out to be the most evocative and effective piece of the entire album, with a chorus capable of overwhelming the listener thanks to its immense pride.

Noteworthy are also songs like "Harvest", a reflective and extended track that develops in a crescendo of power; also worth mentioning is the engaging "For They Know Not" and the concluding "Sephered", a sort of laude filled with dark and esoteric atmospheres that only a band like SOTM can convey.

Ultimately, in my opinion, Privilegium is the magnum opus of the Teutonic band; it is an album that is not easy to listen to and not for all ears. To fully understand it, you will need to listen to it over and over again, but once you comprehend it, I assure you, you won’t stop listening to it for weeks! As far as I'm concerned, Privilegium can easily fit into the best releases in Black Metal of 2009.

My final rating is: 9