Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! I can’t think of a better way to start a whole new project than releasing a full-length album of such majestic and unadulterated brutality. UMBRA CONSCIENTIA from Costa Rica / Germany features members of DYSANGELIUM, CORPSE GARDEN and more and they have only been active for a couple of years. Their excellent label Terratur Possessions links their sound to the likes of KATHARSIS or FUNERAL MIST, but in this case I’d rather choose not to outline any specific comparison. “Yellowing Of The Lunar Consciousness” is a rich opus in which all aural atmospheres are carefully crafted through passion and conviction. It is one of those “physical” records that literally engulf you, making your imagination swirl throught dark clouds, bleeding colours and abyssic shrieks of torment. ‘El Caos Que Precede A La Creación”s sombre, threatening drones flow into the crushing ordeal that is ‘Maze Of Exile’, and from that point on there is no rest for the wicked really. The riffs are pure hypnotizing magic, with the highest peak possibly being ‘Lord Of Phosphorus’, only slightly slower than most of the songs on the LP but indeed as evocative and obscure as can be. This truly effective record is, by the way, completed by Misanthropic Art’s perfectly fitting front cover work. Make sure you pervert yours and everybody’s christmas feast by laying your hands on this massive slab of Black Metal. Do it now! Band contact: www.facebook.com/umbraconscientia, purchases through: www.terraturpossessions.com.