Whilst video games such as Elden Ring may be beyond this reviewers comprehension, having spent many hours trudging around villages in Skyrim, only to give up after having married a peasant girl who was abruptly murdered by a swarthy orc (or something like that, I never recovered from all those hours wasted), the concept does lend itself rather well to the triumphant sound of heavy metal. Here, Noctule, who is Serena Cherry, previously of Svalbard, uses Elden Ring as inspiration for her black metal/melodeath album Extinguish Thy Flame, and oh boy, are you guys in for a treat.
Fans of the game will no doubt recognise the song titles which are all based after end of level bosses, and place them against their own personal experience, but what stands out here is the emotional impact of the music. Taken from a place deep inside her, Serena talks of how video games saved her life and you sense the deep symbiosis with the themes of the game with the gloriously cathartic music on offer.
Although raging and brutal, the harshness is tempered by the wonderful melodeath which is up there with Gothenburg’s greatest. Rising up from depths deep inside Serena, you can almost feel that exultant relief at defeating the end of level boss. Ice cold riffs play off against buzzsaw melodies before dropping into piano moments of introspection, only to ramp up again into a glorious crescendo. It’s simply breathtaking.
It’s almost a perfect album in the way it unfolds, and every note feels perfectly placed. As the album unfolds, its pace reflects the many moods you feel as you journey on an adventure, and whilst Elden Ring may be a fantastical one, the music provides a deeply personal reflection too. That this music is the product of a solo creation too, makes it all the more impressive. Cathartic triumphalism has never sounded so emotionally devastating and delightful. A sheer brutal delight from start to finish.
