At some point when a sound has been done hundreds of thousands of times, you’re bound to find just as many creations that adhere to the original roots as much as you will come across those that defy all conventions to carve new paths toward new horizons heretofore unimagined. It’s such that an effort that finds itself going down the middle of the road for what that particular sound is capable of while still being interesting and more than enough to catch one’s attention is to find a record that is of undeniable quality. We never know when or from where we will receive such a piece in the world of black metal as it’s a matter of patience more than anything else, and it’s after my patient waiting that I’ve been treated to Narrative whose debut album is anything but middle of the road when it comes to its quality.

Given the wide breadth of sounds that black metal has come to call its own since the inception of the sound, “middle of the road” is itself a nondescript term given how many different ways that can be pulled in one situation or another. A modern approach that doesn’t do much to an already tried and true formula, Narrative’s first full-length album does not rock the boat by any means but it’s in every way in the six tracks of “Servants of the Prophets, Martyrs of Man” that you can feel the passion and dedication to the craft that Narrative has. Filled with just as many riffs as it is powerful with its very modern production, the very DNA of this record is a signature of quality with every subsequent piece allowing the album to build up itself as a magnificent, hefty piece that has much more than one might expect before venturing in. As well as being a concept album about a fictional religious holy war, the very core ideals of black metal itself are still quite strong as throughout the whole of “Servants of the Prophets” never once shies away from embracing those concepts even as Narrative pushes itself to be a creation that is wholly its own rather than a cheap copy that hits on all the same notes as its predecessors to result in a lifeless cheat of an album. The reality of “Servants of the Prophets” is anything but with the very fabric of this record something that has much more than I could’ve anticipated.

They say that the debut sets the tone for a band’s future, and if this is but a taste of what we can come to expect from Narrative then I am ready for a full-on meal! The flavors at work here make for an utterly exquisite dish as “Servants of the Prophets, Martyrs of Man” always finds a way to deliver on what we didn’t know we were missing to not just make it an entertaining record but one that’s undeniably engaging and outright satisfying to boot.

“Servants of the Prophets, Martyrs of Man” releases on February 3rd!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Servants of the Prophets, Martyrs of Man” on Bandcamp here.