Following the release of last year’s De stilte van God debut album on the well-respected Tour de Garde, FÍR now makes a bloodpact with AMOR FATI for the release of a new mini-album, Het sinistere oog. The band brings an authentic-sounding recording to the table, a reflection of how its creator feels like black metal should be played and sound. FÍR’s Het sinistere oog conjures forth a robust ‘n’ roiling iteration of stridently second-wave black metal: hypnotic yet dynamic, tangibly physical but striving for the beyond.

“The lyrics and artwork deal with the process of self-transformation,” reveal FÍR, “an uncomfortable-yet-necessary transformation, to be able to move forward from the old and make room for a renewed and stronger version of the self. Recording the music was a dire and difficult process, but we overcame the odds and tried to make something out of the energy we had. The result is an organic performance, recorded live in the studio, stripped of any nuance and polishment.”

Indeed, Het sinistere oog is nothing if not urgent. And yet, the finesse put forth – actually exuding energy whilst harnessing it, revealing an incredibly austere atmosphere in the process – makes FÍR circa now a unique proposition: fully residing under a funeral moon, but moving toward other illuminations. “Fighting the old and working towards the new self” is the guiding directive, then, imbuing such second-wave spells with a particularly alluring opulence.

“The overall mini-album can be seen as a stepping stone for the next phase, whatever the shape or form might be. The past has been burned and left behind.”