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Tenebrae in Perpetuum hail from Italy, and I can't say I've heard a lot of black metal coming from that country (whenever I think of the two, I think of Mortuary Drape.) Their brand of black metal is heavily rooted in the mid-90s' second wave. Forget female vocals, pretty keyboards and ambient crap. This is mid to fast-paced BM with crunchy guitars with attitude with more or less interesting drumming (never been all that crazy about most drumming in the second wave – it does what it has to do but it's not "exciting" per se), and of course some screeching vocals spitted through your speakers. There are a few short passages where the vocals are spoken and even "sung", but for the most part it's mostly the undecipherable screeches we've come to love.

As mandated by the chosen sound, this does have some level of evil, dark and sometimes threatening atmosphere, mostly provided by good use of the guitars and even the drums to some degree. It works most of the time, but I've had a few "hmmm.... Right..." moments where I didn't really know what they were trying to accomplish. Even though there's some variety throughout the album, taken as a whole it sounds a bit monotone and in the end you feel like you've been listening to one single song for 38 minutes. Very odd feeling that has had me listening to this one for weeks, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Yeah, I do that sometimes.

Tenebrae in Perpetuum do not invent anything here, so if you're looking for a fresh approach to second wave black metal, this is not where you'll find it. It does have its moments, however, and despite the generic/monotone approach, I never got bored after several listens. Apparently no web site or Myspace page at the time of writing, so check out the label's web site.