With such a name, this Polish quartet couldn't play anything else than Black Metal. Despite its religion related name though, the band decided to leave its unholy concept behind and spend some time working on more philosophical subjects. "Eternal Circle" is a concept album that deals with the "eternal wheel", the end of life and the beginning of the exact same one, with the same events and experiences. One more Black Metal band reading too much Nietzsche, huh?

People describe this band as Avant Garde Black Metal and that's not too far from the truth. In my opinion, NON OPUS DEI sound a Black Metal version of the latest BEHEMOTH albums. From the very first seconds of "Eternal Circle" the listener comes across relentless "polished" blasting with Middle Eastern melodies and a totally chaotic atmosphere that resembles to the latest DODHEIMSGARD works. The almost Industrial sounding guitars are not going to offer you any classic BM wicked melodies (with a few exceptions), but will unleash their ultra fast, brutal, razor sharp riffing. Sounds too good? I guess it does, since NON OPUS DEI have some flaws, too.

"Eternal Circle" may be a decent, brutal Black Metal release, but it definitely needs enough spins before you reach your verdict. The fact is, I listened to this album many times before I write this review in order to fully understand it, and I admit I enjoyed every single time, but there was always a point where I caught myself thinking about various other releases. I guess it didn't give me as much as I wanted, since this kind of music is definitely challenging for both the band and the listener. No matter what though, I believe that NON OPUS DEI has a really promising future ahead of them...