Originally released in 2017 on cassette but selling out each edition three times over, ITERU's Ars Moriendi has quickly become a highly considered & essential piece of modern underground doom-death. And listening to the expansive 34 minutes of this debut recording, it's easy to hear why: ITERU craft a crushing-yet-spacious experience of damnation and depression, almost effortlessly moving from spiraling suicidal melody to earth-shaking heft, and smothering the listener every step of the way. Even the vocals themselves seem to be world-eating, a force of nature (or even the supernatural) intent on utter oblivion. But, unlike so much doom-death past and especially present, Ars Moriendi always conveys a sense of movement - no sludge for its own sake here - and an expert grasp of dynamics; down every labyrinth, there is both light and shade, and all is DOOMED. We can reveal that this mysterious entity contains members of classic black metal bands, but Ars Moriendi stands as its own monument, monolithic in its obsidian glow.
