https://youtu.be/EEYE_7ZG224
Band info 
Band: A///Plague
Album: Solve et Coagvla
Released: September 13th, 2024.
Genre: black metal.
Location: Brazil.
Review
Today we celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Brazilian anarchist black solo project A///Plague. Founded by a very prolific musician who has been around the Brazilian and antifascist scene for a lot longer than half a decade: Al. Also known by anyone following RABM or this very network closely, through the duo Void Me.
The many years of listening unjudgingly to different genres are now key to Al‘s signature sound. It comes wrapped in black metal paper but keeps peeling into many layers. With Void Me there’s a crust tendency that we can still hear subtly with A///Plague, but they both share melody, atmosphere, and heavy/thrash drops. A///Plague, however, has been stepping more into doom-oriented sonorities, as well as into post-metal. And here’s ‘Solve et Coagvla‘ to prove it.
The album opens with “A Year Of No Light, A Life At Non-Place” bringing in some blackened death drumming that breaks for slower passages and guitar duels. “Celestial: Shemihazah As Lover” keeps the fast-paced drums this time accompanied by tremolo-picked melodies with a Nordic flavour. What we could call the chorus comes with heavy metal spiked guitars, and it eventually breaks into a punk-driven rhythm, only to finish up with a few beautiful seconds of post-metal. Non-distorted guitars give way to the post-metal “Infernal: The Ecstasy Of Cruelty” one of the slowest tracks in this release that comes with some groovy riffs and an invisible orange worth ending.
Very few songs or bands named or containing the word Woe disappoint musically, or is it just me? In A///Plague‘s case, it is no different, and it actually comes as a nice post-sludge surprise that develops to the point that it ends up reminding you to Immortal. And, we come to what’s the last and probably the best song of the album: “Les Bougies Noires Sur Le Corps De Ma’at” a beautiful and powerful fluctuation of all the post-sonorities that Al masters.
Of course, lyrically, all these songs carry political messages that can be applied to the many atrocities happening in the world right now, name it Palestine, Lebanon, Congo… All the consented idiocy, lack of ethics, and praising of idols and false values. The many hardships of this existence.
This is why we can’t help but appreciate having Al back on the network again and again, because this is what rebellious passion and humility sound like, and it sounds incredible.
Other links and platforms
Bandcamp: http://aplagueblackmetal.bandcamp.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/aplagueblackmetal
Instagram: http://instagram.com/aplagueblackmetal/