“Blessings and Curses” is the fifth offering from the unique one-man project, Non Est Deus. It was released on April 3, 2026, through Noisebringer Records, and I must admit that from the very first moment, I have been absolutely hooked on it.
Noise continues his “divine” work with Non Est Deus, diving deep into religious waters, studying, questioning, judging, and ultimately clashing with the very writings of the Old and New Testament.
This clash, however, does not emerge from some sterile “rebelliousness without cause,” but from the futility, cruelty, and contradictions found within the sacred texts themselves.
Turning to the album itself, it is also worth focusing on the production process, since Noise does almost everything on his own. As he himself notes, he handled all instruments, lyrics, mixing, and mastering, while the drums were performed by the musician Hans. The picture is completed perfectly by the excellent artwork of artist Tuomas Koivurinne, which adorns the album and fully captures what the fifth Non Est Deus release is about: the thin line between blessing and curse, salvation and punishment.
Blessings and Curses is a distinctly modern black metal release. Let’s open a small parenthesis here… When you hear the term “black metal,” especially if you belong to the older generation of listeners of the genre, your mind will surely go automatically to that familiar, much-loved dirty and excessively “distorted” sound that spreads everywhere and covers everything, to the point where you start wondering whether your speaker is damaged or whether it is simply some new… “feature”! But that is not what we have here. The result is truly high-quality, well-crafted, and full-bodied, without losing for a single moment either its aggression or its black metal edge. It becomes crystal clear how hard-working Noise is, but also how well he knows how to create a sound that is modern and only as clean as it needs to be.
Musically, your ears are filled with black metal that at times turns melodic and catchy, and at other times sharp and aggressive. Fast riffs, intensity, and hooks that stay with you. It is no exaggeration to say that this is an album that feels made for “concert use”, the kind of record where metalheads will be banging their heads relentlessly!
It should also be said that Blessings and Curses has a very beautiful and highly accessible flow. Prayers at the three main points of the album help the album take on a more complete character. There is a beginning, a middle, and an end; there is a ritual unfolding in which the listeners take part, and that keeps them engaged from the first moment to the very last.
Blessings and Curses is an album that satisfies two basic desires of mine: immediate gratification from the music itself, but also a deeper layer waiting to be explored.
P.S. You did not need me to tell you, “Listen to Non Est Deus!” Still, my humble opinion, Blessings and Curses is one of the top releases of this metal year… Let’s see what else 2026 has in store for us…
