Band: Namu
Album: Wretched Spawns of Iniquitous Orders
Genre: Progressive Black Metal
Country: United Kingdom
Label: Independent
Released: July 18th, 2026
Introduction
Namu is a London-based solo project. Its only album, "Wretched Spawns of Iniquitous Orders", is progressive black metal with sci-fi and cosmic themes that will lead you through aggressive black metal, universe-exploring ambiences and synths, and all sorts of prog metal bits you can expect.
Wretched Spawns of Iniquitous Orders
Tracklist:
- Catharsis in Stasis
- Edict of Absolution
- Ineffable Constructs
- A Fold's Gather
- The Fibre Prismatic
- Aberration of Light
- Triptych
Some bands have that thing that they grab the bones of a subgenre, and experiment with it to a level it becomes its own thing; and that’s exactly what Namu did with black metal, in a rather impressive fashion since it’s a one-man project. The compositions, synths, the way the songs lead you into the depths of the universe, are truly remarkable work. A side note, all harsh vocals are credited to ICanBeFree, who’s the only other performer other than Namu himself.
The starting track, "Catharsis in Stasis", already delivers what you should expect from the album: it starts calm with a synth that leads into a heavy, percussive break and then a wall of sound of tremolos, harsh vocals and more synths, that present this beautiful yet brutal sound Namu creates.
As expected from a prog influenced band, the songs shift, jump in and out of aggression, even in shorter songs like "Edict of Absolution", the idea is consistent. And, in this second song, Namu shows us he can really sing, and since it’s a prog-influenced album, I not only expected some clean vocals but when they appeared, I really liked the placement of them.
The next two songs, "Ineffable Constructs" and "A Fold's Gather" continue with the theme. The former, "Ineffable Constructs", have some more modern riffs, some galloping, even during the atmospheric section it has, with some dissonant bits, while "A Fold’s Gather" ending brings in a sort of mix of clean guitars + ambiences and long reverbs with some basic yet well-placed bass underneath.
"The Fibre Prismatic", the slower tempo song and my favourite of the album (which I, by the way, listened to back-to-back like 5 times by now), starts seamlessly from the ending of the previous song, brings in the aggression back but then, throws us into a free-fall through the universe, with electronic noises, synths, a bass that marks the tempo, to then lead into a head-banging, heavy riff that matches the aggression of the lyrics sung, in awesome fashion.
Also, "A Fold’s Gather" and "The Fibre Prismatic", to me, felt like at one point, were one giant twelve-almost-thirteen minutes long song, that was split into two.
Next we can hear Namu sing again in "Aberration of Light", a song that once again keeps the theme going, the changes, the ambiences, the aggression and the clean vocals, all there.
Then, "Triptych", the last song, comes along. To me, this song could both be the first and the last song of the album, as it marks really, really well what Namu is capable of. The long, atmospheric intro, the heavy modern riffs coming after, the vocals of ICanBeFree coming in tearing through, and Namu’s own vocals once again showing how good of a singer he also is.
Conclusion:
The album feels like a sort of sci-fi horror movie, that alternates between action, brutal and bloody scenes with beautiful scenes of the characters contemplating the beauty of the universe, seeing stars, constellations, nebulas and such, in dream-like atmospheric passages, electronic noises, acoustic bits, and Namu’s incredible singing too.
Overall, it’s a must-listen to fans of bands like Lumnos, Alrakis, Labyrinthus Stellarum and such, and for those who love some prog into their black metal, like I do.
BMZ Rating: 9/10
You can support the band here:
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