The judgement of the stars that stare down from the night sky means nothing to me. I will outlive their flickering ghost light. I will still be walking my endless path when they have burnt out into darkness. I will be here when the legends that gave names to their constellations have been forgotten. Yet my bones become fragile, like dry twigs that crack underfoot. My once imperious strength deserts me and my lustreless skin fades, hanging from my enfeebled frame. My beauty is shed with my fracturing sanity, crumbling over freezing aeons of solitude. I will retreat into my memories of glorious, blood-drenched centuries of lust and power, when we fell from the skies like avenging angels, wolves upon the fold, drunk on the terror of the lambs…
Parusight is the solo project of Bristol black metal musician Oliver Groves; noted as the guitarist of Blasfeme, who unleashed the visceral warfare of the Black Legion album earlier this year. But the darkness speaks to Groves in many voices and with Parusight he explores a very different shade of black. The opening track of debut album “Deathly Pale”, ‘A Clash Of Stars”, is a summoning of atmosphere, a gateway to the shadow realms of Parusight, a place where spirit freezing cold and desolate beauty entwine, where bestial vocals howl through blinding storms of ice and keyboards weave tapestries of dark romance. From the tempestuous seas of blood and raging chaos of “Lost In A Shadow” to the wounded, malicious devil that is “Malignant” – a song of decay held together by bitterness and spite – “Deathly Pale” reveals itself to be an epic, emotive creation of rampant riffs and cascading melodies, a tale of many chapters. At the ever-bleeding heart of the album lies its greatest work, where all its poisons coalesce, “Love”. Here, reflections on past sins are shrouded in funereal drapes of melancholy, dying passions feed ancient agonies and words are torn from throats in violent expulsions of utter savagery. “Deathly Pale” is an intensely personal outpouring of emotion, yet one rooted in revered musical traditions and universal truths.
Released by the bastion of British black metal that is Wulfhere Productions on October 18th, “Deathly Pale” is a remarkable debut album from a burgeoning talent. Oliver Groves – Parusight – has a huge amount to offer to devoted disciples of the darkest musical art and “Deathly Pale” is the perfect first step into his kingdom of endless night.
Line-up:
Oliver Groves – All music and vocals
