Here is yet another black metal super group, this time originating from the UK/France and featuring B.S.T of Aborted, Balrog and Aosoth fame, aided by guitarist James Mcllroy (Cradle of Filth), drummer James Wilding (Aborted, Aosoth, Trigger the Bloodshed) and bassist Peter Benjamin of Akercocke.

If that lineup gets you harder than a pedophile at Disney World, and it should, because the recorded output pretty well culls from all of the bands mentioned: Blistering, blackened death metal with a touch of atmospherics, a robust earthy guitar tone and plenty of burly death metal injections.

After the intro “God Speaks”, “Ich Bin Das Licht” rumbles and slithers from the speakers with a insidious presence and skill you’d expect from such a lineup and sets the tone for rest of the album. “Word” initially hints at Cradle of Filth -like theatrics before a snarling blast beat takes the track over forcefully. “Never” starts with a sturdy, simple mid-paced march before exploding into a venomous multi-layered (musically and vocally) assault. While “Fifth” has some of Cradle of Filth‘s thrashing nuances, as does “White Dust” ― the most Cradle-sound track on the album but with far more vocal clout.

I’m not going to lie though. At about “Four Beasts”  the album loses some of its steam as repetition sets in. The focus becomes more on Aborym-like blast beats.  The deep chants of interlude “Ex Voto” are too little, too late as it sandwiches between relatively forgetful “Flesh of Yvth” and the closure “L’Orgueuil”.

There is one feature that stood out along with the expected musicianship and song writing, and that’s B.S.T’s religious themes that permeate the album. Rather than the typical church burning, Christ hating diatribes, the album has a disturbingly deep undercurrent of spirituality and devotion to God. Not clichéd  “Yay God!” Christian metalcore bullshit, but a deeper rooted,  intellectual but still dark take on faith and salvation. However, my spidey sense is going haywire that its possibly some gimmicky overt reverse psychology or actually a reverse handed dig at Christianity, but I’ve yet to throughly C.S.I it.

Either way, the music itself is definitely worth it. You’ll just have to dissect the lyrics yourselves.

[Visit the band's website]

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