The first album by this Bristol bunch, Iniquity In Salvation, completely passed me by I’m afraid but due to some nifty social media awareness raised by Wulfhere Productions and a few musicians, this actually rather curious band’s latest release made quite a few blips on my radar and thankfully there it was on the review lists.
Why curious? Well the first notes of ‘Purified By The High Flames Of Hell’ bring to mind some straight down the line heavy metal before the black metal riff obliterates it. It has a nice dark bite to it and the vocals snarl away in the mid-ground to excellent effect. The drumming is relentless and the almost melancholy melody to the riff has a wonderful shiver to it. But curious? We’ll get there. But this is an excellent opener full of atmosphere and intent, a fine shift in the midsection that comes out into an almost pagan metal style bounce with a glorious bassline to it before hurtling into a black metal descent. It just feels a little unique too, somehow.
‘Wolves Of Carpathia’ has an immediate melody to the riff; cold, stormy black metal, tempo shifts and a dark ride. Then we pause as the intro to ‘Cachtice 1611’ waltzes with us to some classical violin before the blast hits. It delves into doomy passages, slow and ponderous and heavy with menace. Perhaps it comes close to almost outstaying its welcome, but not quite.
‘Ritualistic Exsanguination’ has a fine old sample to lead us in and the riff has little flicks of melody to it. It surges on, weaving a distant hook-line through it as though pulling a thick thread and then…we get an absolutely stunning drift into straight heavy metal with a fantastic melody and riff, even with the death vocals, which smoothly morphs back into the black metal ride. Something clicks in my head around here and when ‘Czernobog’ comes in I begin to hear more of the heavy metal touches woven through Blasfeme’s sound. It’s not like they start aping Iron Maiden or anything, but lord the way ‘Czernobog’ builds on the traditional heavy metal riff but effortlessly weaves it in and out of the undeniable black metal is frankly captivating. Curious, see? This is not ‘black ‘n’ roll’, this is just showing that touch and rhythm can completely smudge the lines between sub-genres and the result is utterly compelling.
The title track has clashing swords, battle sounds, no quarter and the sound amplified by some great rumbling drums. There is once more a touch of stepping into the realms of both heavy metal and pagan/Viking metal but the black metal is never far away. I may be splitting hairs over genre but when the heavy metal hits it’s as though the glistening heart of the song is suddenly brought into sharper focus. The touch with which Blasfeme do this is impeccable.
‘Bound By The Blood Upon Our Swords’ closes. A quiet, mournful acoustic guitar piece. Yes, you read that correctly. And as a coda to this dark and violent album it adds a superb closing atmosphere; medieval, folk. Perhaps a little dark fantasy. Dextrous certainly. A fine and thoughtful end.
Black Legion is a compelling and darkly glorious take on black metal. The song-writing is excellent, the production spot on and the feel is just all enveloping. The heavy metal touches, the nod to the more epic pagan metal style, the driving black metal at its heart all weave together so damned well. Guess I’m going to have to buy the debut now, eh?
Honestly an outstanding album. Just go get it people. I just hope I can catch them live because they should be a real experience.
(8.5/10 Gizmo)
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