Resonance - Mayhem - Supplices
- Sparky
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Mayhem – Liturgy of Death 8/10
A band that needs no introduction. Norway’s Mayehm (The True Mayhem) have been a cornerstone of Black metal for over four decades where their reputation exceeds expectation and the wait between albums is at times interminable. Whereas the name often overshadows the music Liturgy of Death is their seventh studio album and is pure unadulterated black metal and effortlessly extreme.
Liturgy of Death is an excellently recorded album that captures the disconcerting nature of their music and the harrowing aspects of it through the varied (tortured) vocals styles of Attila Csihar. From Despair with its restlessness and sense of urgency thorough to the slower paced yet excellent Weep for Nothing, this is pure black metal with superb guitar interplay and dynamics courtesy of Hellhammers always excellent percussion. A band not for famous for its melody Liturgy of Death carries a fair amount of it that makes the tracks modern and memorable. The intensity is consistent throughout and the black flame burns brightly as on the traditional Realms of Endless Misery, instantly recognizable yet no homage with its introspection on mortality. Aeon’s End contains another unhinged vocal performance and cracking riffing that borders on the progressive. Closer The Sentence of Absolution, continues the bands progression, a blackened atmospheric wonder full of dissonance and restrained aggression supplemented by keyboards in its harrowing conclusion and the undeniability of the inevitable.
For the converted Mayhem is a band that is above review and criticism, Liturgy of Death will be dissected and discussed at length against the bands legacy, it is an album that is as current and filled with purpose as any of their catalogue, extreme in the very definition of the word carrying the bands trademark menace and darkness. Unmistakably Norwegian black metal it is another chapter in the lore of a band that continues to prove its vitality, relevance, and reverence within the genre.
Supplices - De l’Infâme et du Trépas, 8./10
Formed in 2015 in the south of France, Supplices are purveyors off true authentic black metal. Their second album De l’Infâme et du Trépas is a conceptual work of black art that marks the spiral of madness and damnation. The result is simply quite brutal in both its delivery and intention.
De l’Infâme et du Trépas, revels in its utter terror and defiance. It is gloriously terrifying with its horror like approach and that distinctively French intensity that is both unique and unrelenting almost decadently so. It is a journey into the abyss marked with a devastating vocal approach from Gévaudan, that writhes in agony, delivers damning accusations and fear inducing outbursts. The narrative is dark and bleak, the music extreme in the purist sense of the word, that is punctuated by incredible moments of speed and aggression and a lingering atmosphere that is disturbing and intangible. A presence that fills every track that includes Réduit aux Bas-Fonds, the inevitable fall that is L'Enfer de Dante, the lingering melancholy of Terre des Larmes and the horrifying coda of De l'Infâme et du Trépas epic in its scope that is engrossing and visceral in its delivery of the ritual.
De l’Infâme et du Trépas is a burst of extreme brutality that revels in its honesty and purity to the art of black metal, expressive in its despair and anger, its context frightening and relevant. The genre has never been in more vital and capable hands. Highly recommended.
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