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"Glorior Belli is somewhat of a supergroup, sharing members with Black Flame, Slavia, Merrimack, and Obscurus Advocam. Manifesting the Raging Beast does have its luminous moments. But for the most part, this record is straightforward. Drums blast with precision, guitars churn out mournful chords, Infestvvs howls apocalyptic verses. For black metal, the production is surprisingly full and punchy. The sound is appropriate, though, for an attack based on skill, not rawness. On one hand, the presentation is so smoothly professional that the album lacks edges. On the other hand, the performances are so tight that they coalesce into a singular, hypnotic whole. The beast may be raging, but it’s wearing a perfectly tailored suit." Cosmo Lee
"Manifesting the Raging Beast feels like a thick, chilly, humid fog, settling in, slowly blotting out the sun, with any greenery and color drained to a steely gray. There’s a nauseous feeling to these songs, a slight smoldering, a swirling disorientation that sets it apart from much of the more speed-oriented black metal. Manifesting the Raging Beast owes its debts to The Cure’s Pornography, Toadliquor’s The Hortator’s Lament, Slayer’s Seasons in the Abyss, or even Godflesh’s murkier moments. The sound of Manifesting the Raging Beast is that of distant doomy rumbles, rarely giving way to speed for speed’s sake. Glorior Belli create atmospheres and emotions through thick walls of blackened sonics that create a suffocating extremity and maybe even, dare I say it, beauty."
"Repeated listens prove the Seasons in the Abyss comparison particulary apt there is the same feeling of creeping dread and barely restrained fury. And drummer MA Fog brings a loose-limbed power to his drumming, he doesn’t sound like a drum machine set on overload; there is a fucking swing to his attack at times. Infestvvs and Dispator clear huge sonic swathes with opaque, downtuned, warped guitar lines from which there is little respite, relief or quarter. And Infestvvs is an impressively tormented screamer with a throat full of blood and scar tissue digging into very dark places in his heart -- his wordcraft hints at Poe-like gothic conceits, and the phrasing he uses is impressively formal. Not to mention the songwriting! Not fully dependent on blastbeat freakouts, Glorior Belli also fashion sickly, downcast textures, applying chiming melodies, inventive drumlines and downtuned drunes to their aesthetic palette."
Matthew Moyer
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