Looking at the biography of this Austrian black metal band, it seems they have taken an admirable path: three albums since 2017 and intensive touring to parade their wares.

Theotoxin don’t beat about the bush. Violence erupts through the pitch-black scene. Fire, terror and suffering combine. Nothing new if you like your Gorgoroth, but this is impressively atmospheric. At times we’re hanging from a rope. The vocalist and the instrumentalists threaten us. Black metal noise is at the core, but musically it’s measured and well structured, as the opening track “Golden Tomb” wends its epic and furious way. “Obscure Divinations” is no less fevered and intense. It would have been a surprise if it was. Theotoxin continue to rip our heads off, while the vocalist roars his anguished words. Again structurally, it’s good as the band slide from one evil passage to the next without fuss.

It’s hard to ramp up the torture when you’re already there, but Theotoxin don’t do a bad job. I have to say that I’d probably enjoy this more if it’s live as you’d have the visuals – the band, the gestures and no doubt the dry ice giving the scene of Hell which “Fragment: Erhabenheit” captures very well. “Prayer” starts in a more sober way, and the vocalist raucously utters his preachings before we’re back in the battle ground, complete with the stench of rotting corpses and all those nice things. There is an air of majesty about these pieces, but Theotoxin hold that in well, given the grisly themes. The songs are nicely layered too, with subtle guitar lines providing to the uncurrent to the black and noisy fog. Technically, this is very good. “Through Hundreds of Years” steps up a notch, not that it was ever less than fiery and intense, and maintains the mood of terror. As the album went on and particularly as I listened to “Philosopher” onwards, I sensed that there was a grim story being told, but it was the music and its effects which dominated for me. I liked “Two Ancient Spirits”, which was especially creepy with the whistling tones of Dimmu Borgir’s “For All Tid” about it. This added a dimension to this album which like many black metal albums found itself constrained in its own darkness. “Sanatory Silence” ends the album. I expected either fiery intensity or the more epic black metal narrative of “Philosopher”. It was somewhere in the middle and didn’t match up to either, resulting in a disappointing anti-climax.

What a blast. Strong on technique, the heightened atmospheres of “Fragment: Erhabenheit” are probably best listened to outside the sanitised environment of a set of headphones. It nevertheless has its moments, is vivid and intense, and is a valid representation of black metal turbulence.

(7/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/TheotoxinOfficial

https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/fragment-erhabenheit