Exclusive Track Premiere: Patristic’s “Catechesis I”
“I will run after this voice and seize You.”
When we last heard from Patristic in 2022, the Italian blackened death metal act was playing “a razor-sharp style of black metal, one that eschews frigid atmospheres for a complete lack thereof.” Additionally, “the density of the drum work and sheer production [was] enough to suck all the air from listeners’ lungs.” The crushing atmospheric weight of Apologetica was the withered-lung breathlessness of standing “in God’s presence / in God’s essence.” Steeped in the words of the Church Fathers, Patristic then declared, “Here I am to deliver from the plague and corruption and sin. Why should I be ashamed?” We hear in those words, the final two lines of “Praescriptio II” echoes of Saint Augustine of Hippo: “But let me speak to Your mercy, I, dust and ashes, let me speak, since I speak to Your mercy and not to a man, who would deride me.” Derision and shame collide.
Today, we’re thrilled to bring you “Catechesis I,” the lead single from Patristic’s forthcoming LP Catechesis to be released June 20th on Willowtip Records. While Patristic has replaced Jacopo Pepe (Bedsore) with new vocalist Lorenzo Sassi (Frostmoon Eclipse), the band is still helmed by Hideous Divinity‘s Enrico Schettino and working through their catechism. Opening as it does a 4-song catechetical, “Catechesis I” begins with the jarring plaintive strings that irrupt into the final seconds of “A Vinculis Soluta II.” These remnants, stretched into nearly two minutes, transform into a replenishing, melancholic cleansing before the band erupts into a densely layered black metal blitz. The opening blast rips and rends before the main riff begins to swirl violently and menacingly around you. Dissonantly melodic and chthonically heavy, you might hear a more blackened version of Sulphur Aeon or even a modernized Satyricon. At their most blistering, one might even recall Gevurah. Accompanying the song is an artfully directed video in which the F/father, eyes enshrouded by skin, leads a Child to their crucifixion, a visual narration of the catechism, of the beginnings of religious faith and its bloody and bound endings.
About the song, the band has this to say:
“Catechesis I” is the beginning of our journey, both conceptually and musically. The suite that defines what Patristic’s music is today, basically the soundtrack of an initiatory journey towards death.
The first lesson is, the cross is ours to carry.
The second lesson is, his Word is on the one hand terrible.
The third lesson is, we will see through the night of the spirit–but with cauterized eyes.
The video captures these steps as we see the Child, blindfold finally removed, with eyes as cauterized and closed as the F/father’s. While watching the video for “Catechesis I,” I thought again of Confessions. “Why is it,” asks Augustine, “that man wants to sorrow by watching distressing and tragic things that he would not want to endure? And yet he wants to endure this sorrow as a spectator, and this sorrow is his delight.” Holy delight strikes across the face of the F/father in the video as the Child falters repeatedly with their burden. Strung up and sacrificed, what must the Child look like in our benighted state? “And so my soul sickened and, covered in pustules…”
Catechesis comes out June 20 via Willowtip Records.
More information to follow!
