GERSEY DEOFUL – November Ending Fire

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://gerseydeoful.bandcamp.com/album/november-ending-fire

Immensely raw and unfiltered yet soaked in an autumnal atmosphere and possessing a strangely appealing sense of twisted grandeur, this wicked little 5-track EP by the US black metal force known as Gersey Deoful, which contains a handful of covers of Glenn Danzig-penned songs from the Samhain days, sees the band venturing into slightly different genres and infusing some classic material with their own brand of pagan, folkloric musical madness. It hardly gets more unpolished than this one, but its content is surprisingly rich in texture and brimming with a pulsating energy that seems to underline the fact that these gentlemen had fun putting it together. While true to the source material in the sense that the dark and sinister vibe that characterized the original compositions is kept intact throughout, Gersey Deoful have, as mentioned previously, added their own touch to them in grand style and basically twisted them into something else entirely, or rather something that is in keeping with the New Jersey outfit’s emphasis on keeping things memorable and suitably occult-sounding. In addition, the maniacal and varied vocals add a bit of nuance and color to the proceedings that enhance the listening experience. Some tracks work better than others though, and the best of the bunch are “Mother of Mercy” and “November’s Fire” as they possess an immaculate charm of their own as well as an accessibility and dynamics that set them apart from the other three.

EPs and albums consisting of cover versions are rarely essential, nor particularly entertaining to listen to, but thankfully, November Ending Fire does not belong in that category and delivers the goods in terms of spirit, oomph, and devilish excitement. Extra points are awarded for the pun title as well as the evocative album artwork. Gersey Deoful playing horror punk and deathrock with pagan black metal overtones? Why the fuck not?! It works – as simple as that.