Today, Signal Rex announces February 14th as the international release date for Ventr‘s highly anticipated debut album, Ubique Diaboli Voluntas, on CD and vinyl LP formats.
Ventr hail from Portugal, the reigning hotbed of raw black metal. However, with their Numinous Negativity debut mini-album in 2020, the mysterious entity soundly proved their strident black metal was of a palatably professional constitution: fully formed, expertly executed, “orthodox” in the classic sense, and emitting a bewitching melodicism that hauntingly recalled the mid ’90s.
Now Ventr unveil the full fathom of their powers with Ubique Diaboli Voluntas, their long-awaited first full-length. Released in conjunction with their live performance at this year’s Howls of Winter fest, Ubique Diaboli Voluntas retains the noble foundation of its shorter-length predecessor – grim & ghastly intensity, haunting lead-lines, cobwebbed atmosphere – but the duo step up their songwriting to an even-higher plateau. Across the album’s six-song / 42-minute duration, Ventr build upon forward momentum, everything always moving but nothing ever staying static; with those medieval / malodorous melodies painting a poignant picture in the foreground, underneath the rumble roils a rhythm attack that’s incredibly nuanced but never overbearingly so. It’s only when one focuses on the details of Ubique Diaboli Voluntas does Ventr‘s sheer songwriting mastery come into stark relief…and only when the listener has become acclimated to the album’s alternately ancient / fresh stench, which should be the central focus anyway. Fancy words or none, Ventr have truly arrived from the darkest past!
In the meantime, hear the brand-new track “The Martyr’s Gaze” HERE at Signal Rex‘s official YouTube channel. Cover and tracklisting are as follows:
Tracklisting for Ventr’s Obique Diaboli Voluntas
1. The Martyr’s Gaze
2. The Rope Around the Neck of Ataraxia
3. Poisonous Blade of Kindness
4. Violence, Divine
5. … of Sinister Essence
6. Piercing the Eye with Devilish Poison
MORE INFO:
ventr.bandcamp.com