Beauty in darkness - A review of Numenorean's Adore

Numenorean is a post back metal quintet from Calgary that I discovered by pure coincidence. It turns out that this young group is one of my greatest discoveries of the year. This isn't so surprising knowing that the band has signed with French label Season of Mist that might be the best in the genre.

The quintet from Alberta offers captivating atmospheres somewhere between despair, grief and sorrow in form of unchained black metal outbursts with cold riffs, pitiless rhythm sections and skilled vocals where one can actually understand most of the lyrics. These moments are interwoven with appeasing, calm and introspective interludes and instrumental tunes centered around soothing acoustic guitar sounds evoking the beauty of nature. The changes, mixtures and transitions always sound perfectly fluid and invite listeners to get emotionally engaged, reconnect with nature and spark their creativity. This is an amazing record to listen to while working as it energizes and inspires from start to finish. Complex yet fluid title track ''Adore'' is probably the best song on the record as it summarizes the band's strengths in almost nine captivating minutes as one discovers beauty in darkness.

If you like the combination of harmonious acoustic and ambient melodies on one side and unchained black metal outbursts on the other side, you are going to adore the detailed, imaginative and rich Adore by Calgarian youngsters Numenorean. In a certain way, the quintet's music reminds me of a harsher version of the soundtracks to the Life Is Strange video games that are absolutely stellar. If you want to listen to something creative, emotional and inspiring, give this record a spin and support the outstanding band and great label behind it.

Final rating: 90%