You know of Inquisition. Black metal . Some tried to make a controversy of them 2 years ago (massive eye roll). You may have heard of them before as one of the better Satanic black metal acts. Hell you may have only recently heard of them for the first time this year due to massive word of mouth. Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith is one of those bands where runnerjma, wyattxhim and others have just been gushing about them. So much so that my bar was unfairly raised for them rather high. I’ll admit, this will be my first time listening to this band with a reviewer ear against the speakers. So let me listen and I will get back to you…
[2 listens later and still spinning] Okay okay I get why this album has been talked about on a wide spread basis. Inquisition takes everything that black metal fans have liked about the genre for the past 25 years and gives it a modern face lift with updated production. Familiar composition and corpse paint, newer and beefier style of sound. Inquisition’s Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith (which from now on I will just refer to as “Bloodshed”) is the same great taste and style that we yearn for year after year. This is not atmospheric in terms of long drawn out keyboards and stale boring post-black passages….this is a raw delivery of hectic and darkly written black metal. The riffs that would conjure up flames and will definitely force you to headbang. Which is everything this very website is about. Music that’ll make you headbang.
Dagon’s black metal style really is more than just his looks and grim paint…..this guy can really summon up some fantastic black metal riffs and breathe some wretched vocals on top of those riffs. The vocal style is a very linear and typical black metal from northern Europe, no bullshit and no high pitched screams. Just a lower grunt of vocal performance which I respect and gives this band a phenomenal sound. Dagon also handles the bass remedies for this band/album and he lays down the thick following the riffing of his guitar. Incubus delivers a solid percussive performance on Bloodshed, giving you all of the wonderful fills, grooves and of course blasts that you could ever want. His performance and execution on this album is very enjoyable and will add to the headbanging frenzy.
I will not venture and discuss about every single track on this album as it will be redundant and boring. I can give you my opinion of the album as a whole though. This is very satisfying black metal for being what it is, straight forward with a wall of music and a fiery vocalist who will consume your soul. The music on each song is mainly the same formula or format, kick your ass and throw you to the wolves. Highly enjoyable experience of pure black metal Pandemonium. This is the musical equivalent of what a black metal Valhalla would be. The magic of this album is purely based around the riffing, which there is a lot of. The exhilarating drum and vocal work along side of it is just an added bonus. The length of the album may be concerning to some but Inquisition manages to keep it rather interesting the entire time, finishing off the album with not a bang but a gentle caressing with an outro and coda.
If you could survive the density of Schammasch’s Triangle, then you’ll be able to easily walk down the fiery path of Inquisition’s Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith.
8.5 out of 10
For fans of: Immortal & Mayhem
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