Belphegor: Blood Magick Necromance (2011)

I like Belphegor, but I have never considered them an essential band.  I like the albums I have heard from the band, but I do not really go way out of my way to pick up new releases from them.  And here I am reviewing an album from the band that was released eight years ago, but hey, it's new to me.

Belphegor is not a band to take seriously, though that has not stopped Russia and several other countries from forbidding the band to play concerts.  Their lyrics are mostly cartoonishly evil.  They are often obsessed with deviant, fetishistic sex and blasphemy.  The result has been albums like Bondage Goat Zombie and Goatreich - Fleshcult.  And of course we have this album.  Just look at this album cover and song titles like "Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan" for the evil and "Discipline Through Punishment" for the sex.

The band definitely accomplishes a grim and evil atmosphere.  It takes form from the very beginning with "In Blood - Devour this Sanctity" which has a powerful Egyptian/Middle Eastern main riff.  Melechesh does this better generally, but Belphegor has done a pretty good job of it.  The rest of the songs are generally slower and plodding, which is a little unusual for Belphegor.  The riffs are generally terrific though, blending black metal tremolo riffs with heavy death metal seemlessly.  The highlights of the album are the aforementioned "In Blood - Devour this Sanctity" and "Impaled Upon the Tongue of Sathan", which is just plain evil as fuck.

Ultimately, this is probably my favorite album I have heard from Belphegor to date.  There have not been many and the other ones kind of blend together.  This one stands out a bit more for the impressive evil atmosphere.  One of these days, I may decide to check out more of the band's material, but for now I am fine with what I have heard.  This one has definitely captured my attention though.