Argus Megere - Cerburea Apusului - review
Argus Megere - Cerburea Apusului - review
Tracklist
01. Volvura02. Iarba-Fiarelor
03. Cărvunele Vieții
04. Șarpele Din Nouri
05. Soma
A review by
AndyMetalFreak December 17, 2025
The Romanian black metal scene has over the years treated us to some of the strongest bands to grace the genre, including the likes of Dordeduh, Negură Bunget, Sur Austru, and, relevant to this review, Argus Megere. Despite being around for 2 decades, however, Argus Megere only have 4 full-length albums to show for it. Their latest offering Cerburea Apusului marks the band's 20-year anniversary, and comes after a lengthy 8-year absence since the release of Veii.
Argus Megere has a fairly unique style that very much represents the Romanian black scene. The core of their style is firmly rooted in a combination of traditional black and folk metal, but they also delve into a variety of elements including atmoblack, meloblack, progressive metal, and post-rock, all of which are explored here on Cerburea Apusului. Joining the talented foursome are esteemed guest vocalists Bogdan Luparu and Andrei Oltean (who also performs a variety of traditional folk instruments), and together the ensemble unleash the band's most ambitious offering to date. With 4 out of the 5 songs being over 10 minutes in length, Cerburea Apusului is a monstrous effort filled with diverse multilayered song structures, immersive atmospheres, and highly emotive performances. There's rarely, if ever, a dull moment throughout its hefty runtime.
The instrumentation throughout is of the highest standard, harking back to moments throughout the band's discography as well as paying homage to the Romanian legends Negură Bunget. The traditional folk sections are masterfully composed and expertly performed, consisting of beautifully melodic acoustic strings, calm pulsating rhythms, passionate folkish cleans, enchanting keys and synths, and an impressive array of traditional wind instruments. The faster sections, however, are every bit as important, and again, composed with great skill. The riffs vary accordingly from ferocious aggression to strikingly melodic mid-paced tremolos. The riffs often break into delicious leads, while the rampant rhythm section unleashes furious blast beats to counterbalance the guitars. The vocals then become vicious shrieks and screams at this point, and the synths and keys have a more dramatic effect, adding a greater level of intensity rather than sustaining a pleasantly absorbing atmosphere.
Each song is vastly different from one to the next, uniquely structured with complexity and often with a progressive touch, but the melodies are catchy enough to have you hooked throughout. The layering between the instrumentation, synths, and vocals is very dense but mixed superbly, with each element having a clear presence, allowing the atmosphere to feel full and vibrant and have enough vivid detail and emotional depth. The combination of styles, from soft post-rock build-ups to atmoblack passages, makes Cerburea Apusului one of the most interestingly varied releases in the black/folk metal category in 2025, and is certainly a fresh take on hot trends in the modern black metal scene.
The Romanians have always had a knack for this particular music style; folk music is in their blood, and when combined with black metal the result is often a staggering success. Argus Megere are clearly doing a grand job in keeping the scene's legacy and traditions going, and here they take a step even further down the right path by adding greater density to the layering and atmosphere, and incorporating a variety of new elements and features, all of which work wonders for them. They've been absent for quite a long time, but in no way do they show any signs of rust.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 17.12.2025 by
Written on 17.12.2025 by
An honest review that you don't necessarily have to agree with. Comments
Comments:
9
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 Posts: 9628 |
Posts: 9628
Had the feeling that Argus Megere was on indefinite hiatus with Fulmineos having a million other projects, so I was really surprised to see this album coming out, especially because I liked Veii more than anything from Ordinul Negru.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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Posts: 6672 Written by RaduP on 18.12.2025 at 10:16 He's involved in a ton of projects but if he were to concentrate solely on one project (which I suspect he probably won't do) I'd say this should be it, they're a really great.
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Posts: 6672 Written by gavdann on 18.12.2025 at 11:10 If you like traditional folk-tinged black metal it might be your thing, especially if you've listened to, and like the band's Sur Austru and Negură Bunget, and perhaps a touch of Thy Catafalque too.
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Posts: 97  |
Posts: 97
This one's not circulating in free-preview circles yet but I couldn't care less. this is a no-brainer auto-purchase n a relieving surprise treat to cap off a kinda-sorta waning year that had an avalanche of the year's strongest releases at basically the last minute; or close enough to it. I, too, revere Veii as a great work but Ordinul Negru's 2015 was a force too, Radu, you don't think?? ...and Argus/Argus Megere takes its time but I think as far as Romanian releases - Spiritual Ravishment's downtime between its prev release n its 2025 followup has Argus well beat lol have bandcamp / will (digitally/imaginarily) spin!!!
---- No one can fend off 100 multi-colored Draculas not even Count Chocula or Vlad's Dad (Fat Drac) maybe Leslie Nielsen: Dead & Lovin EET
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Posts: 97 |
Posts: 97
N the verdicT... https://metalstorm.net/users/list.php?list_id=8738 ...it's the new #5 on my annual toplist. which means I was sorely disappointed ^_^ I kids I kids obv! .surpassed expectations in ways I wouldn't have readily expected
---- No one can fend off 100 multi-colored Draculas not even Count Chocula or Vlad's Dad (Fat Drac) maybe Leslie Nielsen: Dead & Lovin EET
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Posts: 6672 Written by prnzokoshiroltra on 21.12.2025 at 06:51 Your list is very intriguing, and it's also good to see this album ranked so high too. I imagine it'll also be ranked high on a lot of other people's lists by the end of this year as well.
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Posts: 9628 Written by prnzokoshiroltra on 19.12.2025 at 07:10 All post-hiatus ON albums have been really great but I always felt Argus was on a slightly higher level
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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 Posts: 64478 |
Posts: 64478
Good work doing Radus homework. Romanovian black metal scene us ibtersti g and mystic as legends about Walachian and Carpatian mountan forests. Eat a lot of garlicks there legends says
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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