New York City's booming extreme metal scene is filled with numerous talented minds and visionaries. The metropolis continues to sit at the epicenter of the United States' continued growth. However, within the last decade or so, the talent pool exploded. Seminal acts like Krallice and Yellow Eyes are defining some of the city's schools of thought for black metal. Philadelphia's Woe has partially, if not fully, migrated to the Big Apple and more bands are billowing out of its dark alleys; see Sanguine Eagle and the other House of First Light projects. Another band showing up on the radars of many in the urban sprawl is the fiery Pyrolatrous.
The quartet spearheaded by vocalist and guitarist Nicholas Palmirotto and drummer Lev Weinstein recently finished work on their debut full-length album called Teneral. Nolan Voss and Joe Merolla would later be added to the blackened death metal project once the recordings finished up. From the sound of Teneral's opening track, Pyrolatrous is poised to be another metallic force in New York. This should come as no surprise, however. Palmirotto spent time in HULL. Weinstein, meanwhile, drums for a large number of bands including Krallice, Anicon, and Woe. This combined metal prowess coupled with Nicholas's sociopolitical commentary makes "From Darkness Reigns Omnipotence" a very necessary song in the United States' current landscape.
Artwork by Jas Helena
"I wrote 'From Darkness Reigns Omnipotence' in response to the current political climate," Palmirotto said in a statement to Metal Injection. "I believe it is the responsibility of the artist to express wholeheartedly their ideals and beliefs, especially when those beliefs are being threatened. No one is free when others are oppressed. The veil of darkness encompasses us all and will soon prove our demise if we do not diligently resist the authoritarian state. To be silent is to succumb to a fate of imprisonment, and one cannot be neutral on a moving train."
The message within the track is indeed one to heed. It certainly adds to the urgency felt from the instrumentation as well. Palmirotto frenzied, tremolo picked riffs and Weinstein's blistering blasts and rolls hold a certain classical fury to them. Yet, where ancestral black metal reveled in raw, lo-fi qualities; Pyrolatrous dazzles with technical complexity. One could almost come to expect this from a band boasting such talent and living in an area rich with inspiration. However, the initial returns on this effort far surpass any expectations set by their EP last year.
Stream "From Darkness Reigns Omnipotence" below. Teneral arrives October 20th through the ever-sensational Gilead Media. Spoiler alert: the rest of the album rips just as hard. Pre-orders are available now on vinyl and digital formats. Be sure to follow Pyrolatrous on Facebook as well to keep up with their happenings.
