Twelve albums in and over thirty years in existence, Austria’s blackened death metal masters Belphegor have returned from the fiery depths of hell and are one of the most influential bands in the blackened death metal spectrum alongside Behemoth, God Dethroned and many others. I first got into Belphegor around 2009 after hearing their 2008 effort of Bondage Goat Zombie and not only was I so heavily invested and intrigued by their soundscapes, progression and songwriting capabilities but not knowing the fundamentals of blackened death metal during that time was brand spanking new and fresh to my musical taste and have enjoyed every album they’ve put out. The Devils is the latest studio offering and is the follow-up to 2017’s Totenritual which was a record that I wasn’t really huge on during the time of it’s release but as the months and days go onward I kept listening to it on a basis and it became one of my favorite albums in the band’s catalog.
If you know Belphegor and their sound, they’re known for their pervasive, darkened, blasphemous and satanic style of death and blackened death metal. The first half of this album is showcases Belphegor’s incredibly produced production values and features extremely well crafted tracks as this band provided the most structured and interesting tracks they’ve created to date. When you hear songs such as Kingdom of Cold Flesh, Glorifizierung des Teufels, Creature of Fire and Virtus Asinaria – Prayer these musicians uses demonic, incredible and perfect combination of dissonance, melody, intense extreme metal blast beats and fiery explosion tremolo guitar melodies are beyond strange and instrumentality wise, there’s appropriate productions that are not entirely basic but rather keep balance slow to mid fast paced tracks are a underlying theme throughout past material.
It’s a wide variety of suppression, darkness and blackened death metal combinations have been significant terms of submission, overpowered instrumentation and raging into intensity. From their outstanding foundations, increased technicality and no sacrificed punishing blackened death metal roars to add uniquely designed and authentic signatures are Belphegor’s heavy rotation while there’s hardly any cylinders explained. Just like Totenritual, the lyrics discusses Satanism vividly and biblical prophets as the translation to the album proudly and disturbingly presents a darkened atmosphere that improved such great musicality. Overall, The Devils is a much more aggressive, cathartic and serpentine album’s in Belphegor’s career making this blend of blackened death metal so pure and and unrelenting.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
