### Limbonic Art: Moon in the Scorpio

#### 18/12/09 || cadenz

Definition: Expressing yourself, perfecting the expression and simultaneously developing your persona, through, for example, absolute art – art with total uncompromising integrity, art made for the sole purpose of the art itself, with no ulterior motives. Definition of what? Raison d’être, of course. Subjective as this distinction could be, so it should – the reason for everyone’s life is their own to find. Mine is this, and I find it immensely purposeful. Why this philosophical rant? Well, the album at hand – Norwegian black metal band Limbonic Art’s debut “Moon in the Scorpio” has two connections to the half-paragraph above: 1) listening to this album has inspired me countless times to creating my own art and 2) “Moon in the Scorpio” is an absolute masterpiece, and certainly has the words “absolute black metal art” written all over its gloomy, mysterious aura. Follow me on this journey through the phantasmagoric conception of one of Norway’s crown jewels:

Once upon a time (in the mid-90’s) in Norway, two men of great talent aspiring for individual greatness transcendent of the mortal frame decided to set out their grand master plan. For years, Morfeus & Daemon had envisioned the creating of a record of such haunting beauty and unfathomable evil that it would shake the foundations of the lives of anyone who heard it. To achieve this unearthly goal, they needed supernatural aidance. Risking their lives, they decided to conjure one of the Dukes of Hell, the keeper of the most powerful, unpredictable and thereby creative Elements of the Earth – a nightmarish demon of beastly proportions – and force him into aural form using only their composing, arranging and instrumental skills, as well as their two finely-tuned minds blindly devoted to the magic of absolute black metal art.

After countless hours of meditation and seeking inspiration and motivation across the astral planes, they struck gold. The fiery behemoth became aware of their purpose and decided to teach the poor mortals a lesson. Descending through dimensions, Morfeus & Daemon sensed the on-coming assault and braced themselves – and hadn’t they been so well prepared, coordinated and strong-willed, Limbonic Art would be no more. As things turned out, though, the hell-beast was halted, and perplexed of this unexpected resistance in the dark minds of its invokers. Its physical being was trapped in the pentagram drawn in blood into which it was conjured, and its astral self was held at bay by the conviction the Norsemen had in their dark art. Incredulously, it felt them probing his mind for hidden knowledge; of furious blastbeats and buzzsaw guitar onslaughts, of morbid and magniloquent lyrics drenched in the blood of both mortals and gods, of gruesome and anti-human screams of anguish, and above all – of keyboards chanting symphonic themes sonorous and grandiose enough to absorb worlds.

All the while the ancient insight was pouring through their minds, and the beast roaring in defiance and spewing out hatred, the two Norwegians launched the next step of their plan – they began sorting all this knowledge into a framework. With amazing finesse and alacrity, they created seven intertwined songs that together formed a black, lustrous whole that enswathed them all in an aura so malignant that it made even the demon itself flinch. Orchestrating the bits and pieces already known to it in new ways, letting every riff, melody and song fulfill its part to the maximum and not being afraid of using unconventional ambient arrangements, they molded together an aural assault never heard before.

Track flowed into track with seamless ease, the agonizing atmosphere never once lifting off the poor demon’s spirit. Its cries of rage and torment were futile as it was drawn further and further into the lunar pit. Its soul was to be eternally possessed in the bombastic halls of the testament that would be called “Moon in the Scorpio” in time. Sensing the unthinkable – loss – it gathered up in the dark, gloomy corners of its mind, all of its supernatural strength and launched a final, desperate attack against its oppressors. So great was the Duke of Hell’s might that even in its death throes it was close to toppling Morfeus and Daemon’s hold on it, which would rapidly have resulted in the death of our shaken-up duo. Frenziedly grasping for straws, Daemon went over the incantation once again in his mind and saw his final chance. Determinedly, he waited for the one right moment, the pinnacle and emotional peak of the whole opus carefully placed near the golden cut of both the album and the chapter – the grand and symphonic chorus in the end of “Beyond the Candles Burning” – and chanted, vehemently:

Fire – walk with me! Fire – walk with me! FIRE! WALK WITH ME!!

And the beast was no more. It was one with them.

- Information
- Released: 1996
- Label: Nocturnal Art Productions
- Website: Limbonic Art MySpace
- Band
- Daemon: lead vocals, guitars
- Morfeus: lead guitars, vocals, keyboards

- Tracklist
- 01. Beneath the Burial Surface
- 02. Moon in the Scorpio
- 03. Through Gleams of Death
- 04. Untitled
- 05. In Mourning Mystique
- 06. Beyond the Candles Burning
- 07. Darkzone Martyrium