Having reputable band members can either be beneficial due to experience or a hindrance due to expectations. Here Christ Agony boasts Inferno (Behemoth) and Reyash (ex Vader) and original member Cezar producing an epic album of deathly black metal that focuses more on energy and drive then rampaging speed and blasts. The opening intro “Opus Sacrum/Reign Of Chaos” is prolonged to establish the bands overall aura. Into “Frozen Path Unholy Fire” and a solid double kick runs through the song initially before dropping in pace to pseudo doom with thunderous bass hooks. Bass is something that dominates this release and is in stark contrast to “Condemnation” which is much faster and has a more refined and contrasting production on the instruments.
This is the bands eighth album with this year being the first time I’ve heard any material by them. There is certainly enough for me to delve back further than the penultimate album from 2008 to investigate what the band started out like in the mid 90s. “The Stigma Of Hell” again is bass dominant but very tuneful with plenty of double bass for added density and groove. There are hints of the slower elements of Kataklysm or even Mauricio’s side project Ex Deo due to the slower more penetrating riffs used. Added to this you get blackness akin to the more ambitious side of Keep Of Kalessin minus the speed.
With Inferno you’d expect the album to be one monstrous blast fest and is far from it as the guy is given the opportunity to explore his more subtle side with a raft of fills and percussion elements added to keep each song interesting but don’t get me wrong this is no jazz worship by any means. “Silent Gods Of Darkness” again is a slow affair centring on dynamics rather than speed and possessing a very soulful melody backed up by Inferno’s mindboggling ability to create monstrous beats. As with a lot of slower paced albums that are neither doom nor its subgenres of funeral black or death doom this takes a bit of getting used to as the magma like sound density is similar to Triptykon or even Frost’s “Monotheist” beast of an album. “Demonicon Illuminati” and “Black Star Falling” amalgamate into one gargantuan blockbuster with time changes being minimised to occasional slots when you least expect it. The songs flow inexorably into “Flames Of Several Suns”, a song that possesses an old Katatonia like swagger on the riff, as the tune switches to a stop start structure that stands apart from the rest of the album. The guitar sound morphs to something more like latter day Immortal as the influx of double kick really is devastating.
Closing the album is “Fields Of Inferno” and is more of like an outro with bird call and coastal soundscapes being softened by a gentle rhythm. The switch in riff eclipses the way this starts and creates a Viking style by being epic and grandiose without being patronising or condescending to the listener. I was in two minds about this album due to its slow place though this is not doom by any stretch and I guess I would still prefer a little bit extra on the pace but as it stands Christ Agony’s eighth full length is ambitious, challenging and perfectly executed extreme metal.
http://www.myspace.com/christagonyofficial
Martin Harris
MTUK HOME
