Black metal with a clean, crisp production and actual melody isn’t going to work for everyone. To some, it’s just not “cult” enough if it doesn’t sound like it was recorded at the bottom of a well, but Infera Bruo are three records into their career now and they’re still able to sound vibrant and full of ethereal evil. The emphasis, as ever with Infera Bruo, is on the balance of dark ambience with hints of malice scattered throughout. However, while Cerement (Prosthetic) is more to-the-point than previous releases, it lacks the memorable flair of both of its predecessors.

‘Shroud Enigma’ is the first real track, as the moody ‘Poison Waters’ opens the record rather flatly, but the former’s instantly memorable groove and lurching riffs drop us right back into familiar territory. Following that, we’re dropped back into the mire of minimalist ambience in the form of ‘Effigy Of Reason’, and while it is important in many forms of art to have some kind of ebb and flow, breaks as negligible as these stunt the progression of the record.

These interludes feel less important because there are some stellar tracks on Cerement. ‘Endnotes’ sticks out with blistering solos that injects some much-needed pace to the record. It also flirts with mid-range clean vocals that mournfully croon against the white-hot fury of the tremolo picked guitars. Following on from that is ‘The Lunar Pass’ whose fuzzy, trudging intro does more to build tension than any of the album’s instrumental passages. The interplay between the clean vocals and screeches is at its best here, switching tone just enough to walk the careful line between soaring melodies and scathing instability.

The eight-minute epic ‘Draped In Sky’ feels ploddy and flabby by comparison, and lacks the immediacy of either of the two previous tracks. It weaves in the previously utilised disturbing but interesting synths, adding to the creepy, otherworldliness of the album, but it could have been made more memorable from being evenly spread across the entire track, rather than isolated to one brief interlude. Luckily, ‘Scorne’ snaps everything back into place with sharp, jagged riffs and typically pained vocals to bring you out of this lull.

So, it doesn’t bring anything particularly new to the table, and it can’t help but end on a damp squib with an unnecessary instrumental that lets the record peter out rather than result in any kind of closure, but Cerement remains a technically proficient, great sounding hybrid of ambitious ambience and melodic black metal intensity.

6.0/10

ROSS JENNER