These Austrians have been a band that I have always had a very fleeting interest in but never paid much attention to. On the occasions that one of their albums has come by it has always had the once over, a nod of the head and all that but never really more. The same has happened with a couple of live shows when I have caught them as support. However things changed somewhat on catching the band play in the Sophie Tent at Bloodstock 2013, in short they completely blew me away with a cavernous and feral performance bristling with occult fury and one that felt simply dangerous as hell. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention to them I thought and now here we are, well it’s only taken till the tenth studio album for me to finally sit up and start taking notes.
Belphegor whose name I always seem to have an obtuse mental block on when it comes to spelling, have always been more on the death than black side of things and this is very much defined by the brutal relentless drumming and vocalist Helmuth’s coarse rough roar. These are very much at the front as we are battered into Gasmask Terror, a classic title for the band if ever there was one. Guitars strafe and strum and it’s like being shot at from all angles. “Fuck you all” is yelled out clearly heard and guitars squeal gloriously, the drumming is unrelenting and savage and this certainly has me in the zone when pumped out at full volume. The title track follows and is slightly odd with its use of what I first thought was a sample from an Italian possession film but wonder if the band actually put it together themselves. After this it all rumbles in much slower with drums and heavy guitar lines crushing with just as destructive a force. There’s some Middle Eastern styled melody underlying it all and some great soloing too, melody is heady and it’s a bit reminiscent of the likes of Nile and Melechesh mixed with some strange bits sounding again like they could have been sampled from a Fulci film (I’m thinking Manhattan Baby, it could almost be its death metal soundtrack). It’s good to see the band can take their foot off the pedal and slow down adding a malevolent majesty to things and ‘In Death’ which follows does a good job of battering away and giving out a good neck bracing thrash along in response. That demonic, lost civilisation feel of Mesopotamian madness is back spilling into ‘Rex Tremendae Majestatis.’ Arcane and occult sounding and matching the excellent Seth Siro Anton artwork it’s a potent and atmospheric attack with some fantastic doomy melodic parts.
As if there’s not enough happening already ‘Legions Of Destruction’ which as you can imagine from the title is one of the heavier tracks adds the vocal talents of Glen Benton and Attila Csihar to things so there’s some more gruff brutality and wretched gurgles to take in. With the likes of ‘Lucifer, Take Her’ adding to the horror film sort of vibe that is going on with some wicked backing vocal shrieks and contortions and a cataclysmic melodic thrust this really has done the job as far as I am concerned. Add that to the fact that this is a tightly honed album at 36 minutes without an ounce of spare flesh to it and I have to question why it has taken me so long to finally enjoy the band. Hell after this I am even going to make an effort of getting their name spelt correctly in my head.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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