Finland’s Blood Chalice have absolutely no subtleties whatsoever, you’ve only to listen the band’s debut ‘Sepulchral Chants Of Self-Destruction’, released in 2017, to realise that. Their unhinged savagery tears you apart and continues with this sophomore album with a promo photo parading more nails than a DIY store. Blood Chalice rip you to shreds, their barbaric war metal perniciousness seemingly has no boundaries of nihilism as the album kicks off with ‘The Black Mass’ and instantly their sonic massacring pulverises you to oblivion. Their blasphemic assault borders on noise, in a good way, brutalising the listener with insane intensity, a hyper speed delivery that hurtles into territories only war metal bands can sustain. These Finns embody everything this genre requires as ‘The last Supper Of Insects’ follows, retaining the velocity as a relentless abominable onslaught that is as uncommercial in music as is possible to get.
There are slower phases that rise up like a ghoul from a tomb, such as on ‘Antichristian War Declaration’ or ‘Matanbuchus’ with former possessing a rumbling bone grinding approach and the latter harnessing a caustic malevolence that had me thinking about Hellhammer, albeit briefly. There is little in the way of pausing between tracks too further enhancing the intensity of the release with the sole intent to create an unwavering cacophonic experience with no respite as the shorter ‘Burned Faith’ blasts in with its homicidal, primitive and cold-blooded approach immersing you in a sphere of utter sonic pain. Slightly longer, ‘Celestial Destroyer’ injects further suffering, the vocal vomiting spewing hideous invocations within its blurring anarchic clamour.
The title track utilises a metronomic violence, its hypnotic horror terrorising your soul as the distraught distortions maul the listener alongside the slightly deeper tones on the vocals. I cannot overstate how grotesque this album is, the incessant speed and unrelenting inhumanity produces a tornadic experience that few bands can replicate, though I’d say fans of Impiety, Revenge, Archgoat and their ilk will absolutely adore it. Some old school black metal surfaces on ‘Temet Nosce’ the blasting speed contrasts with the closer and the slightly longer ‘The Rise Of Iconoclast’. Being restrained speed wise the song has a deeper more resonant and grisly styling, though still ridiculously intense, as the track pauses for an eerie bass riff break I really appreciated. The reassertion of speed quickly unfolds as the track careers down culverts or sheer maliciousness, concluding this stupendously horrifying release.
Is there anything else that can be said except check this monstrous album out, and their debut too, there is a wild, ferocious and wholly primal aura here, one that will plunge you to depths of depravity you have not yet witnessed.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
Leave a Reply