The Austrian Jesus-grinders Belphegor have returned back with a new
plate of flesh-ripping and blasphemous tunes in their pockets, ready
to slaughter and slice to pieces a bunch of sanctimonious Christian
people, and not for the first time. This time all the slaughtering
is about to happen under the massive wings of Nuclear Blast Records
– through the new home of Belphegor, as PESTAPOKALYPSE VI, is
the band´s 6th full-length album already, but their 1st for
new label, Nuclear Blast Records.
Listening to all these profane, wicked and grotesque-by-nature
Black/Death Metal assaults off of PESTAPOKALYPSE VI, we cannot do
much else, but proclaim victoriously “Jesus is dead –
long live Satan!”. The band´s chaotic and apocalyptic
journey through the smoking fields of both Black – and Death
Metal is somewhat all-devastating, supported by an enormous arsenal
of weapons for mass destruction that will surely find the last human
being on the face of the chaos-ridden earth.
Uh, a bit seriously again. First off, I ashamed of confessing that
Belphegor´s PESTAPOKALYPSE VI is my first contact to the band´s
bestial world of ripping metal sounds where an unholy alliance between
Black – and Death Metal has been entered somewhat in a perfect
way. I mean, if you dug bands like Nile, Dark Funeral, Morbid Angel
and Immolation, then nothing should stop you liking Belphegor either.
These Austrian extreme metallers simply ooze the word ´talented´
to every possible direction; so convincingly and determinedly that
you kind of automatically start thinking what drugs you have to
be in to produce this ear-capturing and highly addictive noise -
in the positive tone of the word, naturally. Belphegor is just amazing
at everything what they do on PESTAPOKALYPSE VI.
Without hiding my pure and sincere enthusiasm a bit, it´s
gotta be said Helmuth´s vocalism is just truly outstanding.
The guy does really well both Death Metal growls as well as Black
Metal shrieks, without sounding like his vocal parts could be sort
of ´pushed´ or anything like that at all. Also, Helmuth
seems to have an extraordinary skill to find all those sinfully
catchy and fitting elements for their songs that carry really the
songs forward easily and effortlessly. Therefore the result cannot
be anything, but damn breath-taking, and just fucking killer. Undoubtedly
Sigurd has also had his own big role in this whole project to churn
out some of his vilest and most soul-splitting riffs and wicked
melodies out of his 6-string flame thrower, to make them match with
Helmuth´s ideas and visions how PESTAPOKALYPSE VI should sound
when it eventually would hit listeners´ fragile home stereo
systems.
The highest levels of genuine musical blasphemies are reached in
such evil anthems on PESTAPOKALYPSE VI as “Belphegor –
Hell´s Ambassor”, “Seyn Todt in Schwartz (this
neck-breaking song goes even beyond the intensity level of any Dark
Funeral song)”, “Angel of Retribution (which crushes
with its utter heaviness)”, “Chants for the Devil (which
is pretty much just about all that what the title implies... devilish
chanting!), “The Ancient Enemy (that reaches a very hysterical
level right from the beginning – and having a very strong
Dark Funeral´ish vibe in it, too) – and in fact, Belphegor
doesn´t fail to show their merciless red and sharp beast´s
claws in any of the songs on this thoroughly brilliant album.
Obviously the band´s main intention is to rape, murder and
desecrate on their latest collection of satanic verses, and that
goal they have easily accomplished even. PESTAPOKALYPSE VI screams
for the numbers 6-6-6 with the loudest and most soul-piercing volumes,
so you´d better start dealing with it.
As a final note, the album has been recorded at Stage One Studios
under a professional ear of the well-known producer Andy Classen,
so I guess everyone already knows in advance what to expect from
that department. ´nuff said, I think.
PESTOAPOKALYPSE VI belongs to the finest class of a bestial and
satanic insanity. Let´s hail Satan for that, shall we?
Rating: 4/5 Luxi Lahtinen / Metal-Rules.com Canada |