IMPERIUM DEKADENZ Dis Manibvs (2016) Digipak CD

German black metal has a long tradition of doing things properly, and Imperium Dekadenz are not here to break that streak. Dis Manibvs, their fifth full-length, takes its title from a Roman funerary inscription meaning 'to the spirits of the dead', which tells you everything you need to know about where their heads are at.

This is atmospheric black metal in the Bavarian tradition, dense with melody and dread in equal measure. Think long, sweeping compositions that build and collapse like something geological, all tremolo-picked gloom and blastbeats that feel more like weather than percussion. If you've been down the Wolves in the Throne Room or Agalloch rabbit hole and need something with a distinctly European coldness to it, Dis Manibvs is the next stop on that train. Released in 2016 on Napalm Records, it came out when the band were hitting their stride and hadn't lost any of the rawness that made their earlier work worth paying attention to.

2016 digipak CD pressing. Includes booklet. Recommended for fans of Agalloch, Wolves in the Throne Room, Batushka, Mgla.