A/Oratos – Ecclesia Gnostica

A little late to the party, I finally managed to get my hands on the record Ecclesia Gnostica (‘The Church Of Gnosis’, a Christian church based in the US), the debut Full-length record from Paris-based Melodic Black Metal quartet A/Oratos. 

The name of the record is, unsurprisingly, very aptly chosen since the band, lyrically speaking, has a strong focus on gnosticism, spiritualism and mysticism – Once again clearly not some themes that was chosen at random, since their somewhat unique blend of Melodic Black Metal is used to great effect to  convey both the overall messages present on each of the seven tracks (if you either speak French or, like me, am an avid Google Translate user due to a lack of understanding of this fascinating language) and, more directly musically related, the overall emotions the band hopes to inspire in their listeners. 

Said emotions seem to be, once again tying into the overall approach of the band, one of scale. The world around us is huge, wondrous and of epic scale, in which we are merely small cogs that can only grasp, see and interact with similarly small cogs in our immediate vicinity. The message, it seems, revolves around how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things – So tiny in fact that we are completely incapable of seeing neither the larger nor the full picture of which we belong. And, if I am remembering my theological studies correctly, this is no doubt the point. We are fully capable of making small changes to our immediate surroundings and lives (cleaning up around us, find a new job, changing our living arrangements, even vote for local and domestic election). However, at a certain point, everything becomes too big, too esoteric, too difficult to grasp, something I rarely find any mediums outside Lovecraftian fiction that fully succeed in portraying in any meaningful manner. But to me, Ecclesia Gnostica manages to do just that, for a grand total of forty-two minutes. Not bad for a band with less than a decade to their name. 

Recommended for fans of The Great Old Ones, Malevolentia and Anorexia Nervosa. 

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