You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
In her recently deactivated post-metal band Svalbard, singer/guitarist Serena Cherry’s lyrics tackled such hard realities as mental health and abuse. You can’t blame her for retreating to fantasyland every now and again. Her solo outlet Noctule offers her refuge in videogames, and this second album takes the perspective of the bosses from Elden Ring, the hit RPG that helped Serena through her depression.
Noctule’s debut, 2021’s Skyrim-obsessed Wretched Abyss, was a raw introduction written during the Covid lockdowns and a promising start – Serena played every instrument herself, as she does again here – even if much of it sounded similar to Svalbard’s heaviest parts. It was a side-quest for fans of her then-main pursuit.
On Extinguish Thy Flame, there’s a musical identity as well as a thematic one. Although the pained Goddess Of Rot would have fit in on Svalbard’s 2023 swansong, The Weight Of The Mask, the rest combines the slicing guitars of Serena’s heroes Arch Enemy with the apocalyptic textures of Emperor.
Starting with a demented war cry over death/thrash riffing, opener proper Devour The Gods explodes forward. The titanic imagery – ‘Teeth like daggers, throne of flame! Reject the order and say my name!’ – scores high on the holy-fuck-o’meter, and Grafted doubles down on that epic scope. It’s an unencumbered symphonic black metal rager, where stabbing strings and ominous keys give way to frostbitten tremolo picking.
Everything else, from Lament Of The Omen King’s melodeath tapping to Age Of The Stars’ tower of vocal tracks, is dedicated to that same blend of exhilaration and grandeur. If you were to battle a 12ft colossus, sword in hand, this is the soundtrack you’d choose. It’s the first time Serena’s truly shone beyond Svalbard – and, released just one month after their final set, it’s come at the perfect moment.
Extinguish Thy Flame is out September 25.
