Staying
true to the twisted blackened deathscape of
painful perversity, gore-munching atrocities and
anti-christian militarism, the Austrian veterans of Belphegor has
once again made a solid album!
Belphegor never compromised, and obviously they
are not about to. Blood Magick Necromance,
however lame the title, is a concrete wall of sound, topped with barbed wire and
broken glass. You hit this wall at full speed when you press the play button.
The first track, "In Blood - Devour this Sanctity", simply crushes your skull.
No intro, no warning, just pure and cold Germanic black metal.
During Blood Magick Necromance the changes in
tempo and temperament are few and far between.
The slow-paced, atmospheric "Discipline Through Punishment" is a grand example
of melodic black, and aligns itself with the Belphegor
neo-classics "Fukk the
Blood of Christ" (Lucifer Incestus, 2003) and
"Sex Dictator Lucifer" (Bondage Goat Zombie, 2008).
In the ultra-fast lane we have "Sado Messiah",
the last track of the album. As always the drumming is impressive, to say the
least. An assortment of brutally simple and
melodiously intricate chords dominates the entire album - the hysterical pig-squeal vocals
of albums past now more like an instruments, backing up the strings.
I have very few complaints about this piece of nastiness. One could be the lack
of a truly memorable song - like the examples from earlier albums above.
However, when all the songs are so well-composed as these, it is hard for one or
two to stand out.
