CALGARY — “In Tolkien’s Middle Earth, The Black Númenóreans were a race of men who eventually died out because they let greed and power ultimately corrupt them. We have destroyed our earth for that very same reason. Our full-length will be based around those themes and on the collapsing human condition.”

Numenorean started as a two-man project by brothers Byron and Brandon Lemley in 2011. They’ve since grown to a quintet and are officially releasing their two-song demo in December, a self-titled affair released by Winnipeg’s Filth Regime Records. Written and played by Byron with all vocals by Brandon (save for a touch of help from Aiden Crossley on track one, “Let Me In”) the release is their first, a cathartic exercise in post-black metal that conveys a grand emotionality. Well-placed acoustic guitars and fast high-pitch electric guitars create a bipolar crux of deep crevices and high summits.

“Working on our first release I was dealing with depression and a longing for something I don’t think even exists,” explains Byron. “The music is written in a way that you feel the different stages of grief and sorrow throughout, be it calm, ethereal clean parts… then into a wall of aggressive melancholy, similar to the ups and downs one must go through after such a devastating change to their life. Both songs end in similar ways, a climatic change of tone and feel that takes you into not necessarily a happy place but a place where you have accepted who you are and what you’ve become.”

Given Calgary’s heavily saturated thrash and death metal scene, finding members to round out their line-up was a difficult task. After two years of passing around demos, they finally cemented one, featuring Roger LeBlanc on guitar, Steven Tillapaugh (Vaalt) on bass, and David Horrocks (Moradin) on drums.

A full-length album is in the works with all members contributing. For now, however, performing live takes precedent.

“[It] can be an exorcism or a baptism through fire, that’s the joy of putting yourself up in front of people, you invite them into your emotional landscape and they will either explore or experience what we have to offer or vandalize and spit on it,” says LeBlanc.

Inevitably, Numenorean’s “baptism through fire” and demo release show will be vulnerable and destructive; don’t miss it.

By Serena Navarro

See Numenorean at the Nite Owl on Friday, December 12^th.

Thanks to Beatroute for publishing my article.