It has been five years since Æstivation, the last release from Cult of Erinyes (the three goddesses of vengeance and retribution) and the Belgium five-piece have finally delivered their fifth masterwork Metempsychosis. An album that is as innovative as it is epic and diabolical in its delivery, extreme art in its purest form.
Although broken into two tracks making up its forty-plus minutes running time, Metempsychosisis best viewed as a complete piece. The lengthy compositions are sprawling immediate nightmares that coalesce into a unique extreme vision that is immediate and powerful. The aggression is pure and vitriolic in its instantaneous delivery, it is a fast record that is anxious, angry, and brutal. ‘’ Death and the Voyage’’ and ‘’ Eternity in a Second’’ traverse the realms of modern black metal with ease and fury. At times it is a part dissonant nightmare that is agonizing, at others it plunges the listener into the despair of blackened doom, inexorable and inescapable. The majesty lies in their ability to craft fully formed compositions that revel in its darkness, embracing it and delivering it in all its myriad forms, the atmosphere is deeply unsettling, cloying and claustrophobic. The intensity is palpably combined with stellar musicianship that that crosses genres effortlessly that stay true to the band’s ideal at all times. Its concept of the inevitable and mortality is scathing, honest, and at times introspective yet never indulgent. Raw emotion is captured in its most volatile state.
Haunting, captivating and rewarding, Metempsychosis is a fully immersive body of work that is visceral, attention-grabbing and thought-provoking, It is pure extreme modern art pushed to its zenith where all possibilities are limitless.
Cult of Erinyes: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: Amor Fati
Category: Album
Country: Belgian
Reviewed by Sparky
