After catching a brief burst of countrymen Gorod at Hellfest I went off still half asleep to check out Otargos and must say I was pretty damn impressed by their solid Christ-crushing performance. In a way it is a shame that this album had not turned up prior to heading off to France as I would have been a lot more fired up to see them as in brief, No God, No Satan is an absolute belter! I do vaguely remember hearing ‘Fuck God – Disease Process’ before sending it out for review but now with the band simply repudiating His existence it seems like they really have fired it all up a gear.
We begin with a chant of the album title evilly laid out over a shimmering lone guitar chord. Atmosphere is bristling and we literally explode into ‘Cloning The Divine,’ which is full on and rampaging like a horde of demons breaking out through a gateway to hell. There is a grandiose sense of melody behind it though and it is not a case of simple unfettered brutality but one with a sense of purpose. As shown on the entire album things are not left to simply blaze away and this song breaks down into a slow and vile contagious oozing morass of creepy and sinuous fretting with vocals intoned over the top, served out by Dagoth sounding like a preacher staring into the abyss. We flirt between the textures of whirlwind brutality and atmospheric coldness and together they summon up a feeling of utter chilling violence. The guitar textures that are wrung out really make this all the better; there are some fantastic melodies running through things and at one point a scalpel like effect is utilised sending shivers down the spine as it threatens to cut it.
‘Cuiusvis Hominis Est Errare’ uncoils in no hurry over 10 minutes but there is little in the way of ‘mistake’ behind the unholy cacophony spat, gurgled and screamed out from the singer. This is a musical baptism in fire and at full force it really does tear your head off and bathes in the jettisoned welter of gore spewed out your neck stump. At times the intensity of tracks such as ‘I Blood Of Satan’ remind of Aborym although there is nothing here in the way of any electronic emphasis, it just has the nasty jackhammer pace about it.
I have to admit I have found this album totally addictive, to a point that since it arrived it has been getting at least one play a day. It is going to be one of those albums that I am not likely to tire of for a long time to come either. French black metal has become more serious and accepted over the last 5-6 years and although you don’t need a list of all the bands that can be included you can certainly now add Otargos to it!
http://www.myspace.com/otargos
