Not many black metal bands from the Pacific Northwest really captured that triumphant, atmospheric, almost diabolical sounding pieces of music that’s comparable amongst the greatest in history. From the Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish and Canadian regions to the Pacific Northwest, Mysticism Black was founded in 2002 from Battle Ground, Washington who’s founded by OldNick whom may best known his time with the symphonic black metal band Ceremonial Castings. Return of the Bestial Flame is the sophomore full-length and latest offering prior to 2006’s The Dark Erudition which that album to me took all the Norwegian black metal influences with a American twist and created a self portrayed album that captured brilliance, artistic talent and progression.
Six tracks and 53 minutes in duration, this two piece outfit have made some fresh progressive structures alongside the way while micromanaging stronger and heart-wrenching musical deliveries. Musically, lyrically and progressively this album portrays a story so insightful that these tracks are delivering the listener to hear their traditional black metal formulation, melodic introductions and everything from the guitars, bass, drums and vocals are absolute perfection without any sense of repetitiveness alongside the production here is incredibly crystal clear making the harsh vocals, passages, complexity and diversity into the mixture presented here is surely a absolute blast listening to start to finish.
Some of my personal favorite tracks being The Black Never Dies, Glory Beyond Life (Power Beyond Death) and My Lord represent personal characters that engages the listener to be sucked into a world filled with Demonology, dark spiritualism, and a conceptual so deeply impacted with brilliancy, magnificence and executed perfectly start to finish, Mysticism Black are surely but steadily to keep an eye out for the underground black metal scene because this is absolutely top notch material. Return of the Bestial Flame may be on the same page and level as the previous predecessor terms of the musical musicianship and modern day production keeping extreme metal more fluent but if you were a fan of past releases or extreme music in general, you’ll find something at home.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
