Finland’s new act Proscription’s debut album Conduit is some pretty evil and heavy music.  I am a big fan of guitarist/vocalist Christbutcher’s Excommunion as well as his past band – Maveth who were incredible.  I interviewed Christbutcher for allabouttherock.uk some years ago when Maveth were active, since he was born and raised in America and I asked him questions about his relocation to Finland as well as Maveth.  I reviewed the Coils of the Black Earth – one of the best blackened death metal albums in recent memory.

Proscription continues the trend of him writing evil and heavy music.  Yes there are many nods to Incantation, in some respect, and “I, the Burning Son” really gets things going with some monster blasting and some evil melodies and then “Red Sacrament Black Communion” comes to the table with some interesting guitar melodies, which are melodic, while the music is punishing and the vocals of Christbutcher are deep and angry.  There’s some incredible nods to the early 90’s death metal scene and some of the blasting is just ruthless.  Excellent atmospheric and evil melodies towards the end of the song.

“Voiceless Calling”, their single for 2020, has a monster opening drum buildup where I feel as if the armies of hell are marching forward to crush all who do not believe in heavy and dark metal.  The vocals are deep with some chanting parts going on simultaneously.  Some mid-paced rumbling heaviness, just like the beginning returns and then the faster parts with the layered vocals and blasts.  The isolated guitar at the 2.10 part goes right into a slower section with a neat guitar solo, which is piped in louder in the mix to cause head explosions worldwide.  As the solo continues, the music alternates between faster and blasting sections.  This is a fine-tuned and super evil track, again pulling some Incantation parts out of their sleeve.  “Blessed Feast of Black Seth” is the longest song at over 6 minutes beginning with a soft and low buildup with more of the guitar riffing and tone that Christbutcher has perfected over the years which incorporates a bunch of black metal riffage and bringing forth quite a bit of evil sounding death metal too.  A lot of angry barking type of vocals and excellent drum work.  Some of the pounding heaviness calls to mind Behemoth, like around the Demigod era, where some of the brutality is relentless.

Proscription’s Conduit is a damn fine blackened/death metal album with many nods to other bands, but there is that Finnish flair with those guitar melodies and atmosphere that is original in nature, still.  Christbutcher has that formula for success with combining many of his methods and techniques from his other current and past bands as well as trickling in some various atmospheric components showcasing some of his songwriting expansion.  The production is very good for this style of music, since I’ve heard many other bands play this style and having a muddy production in the process which is a bummer.  The album cover is extremely creepy with the demonic entity on the front – it goes along with the musical and songwriting theme of the album.  If you have yet to hear Proscription, give it a go, like their FB page, get Conduit in order to bolster your blackened/death metal collection, because this album is played with much conviction.

[Visit the band's website]

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