In all of their outward manifestations, including their corpse-painted visages and torch-wielding promo photos, the U.S. band Black Eucharist (who were once known as Black Ejaculate) defiantly brandish the familiar trappings of blasphemous black metal. Their music is lyrically venomous, vile, and fueled by a hateful scorn for the Nazarene and all things associated with him, and violent-demon rage comes through in the music as well.
But if you aren’t familiar with the band, their music is much more multi-faceted than those outward trappings might suggest, and they’ve proven that in spades on their debut album Inn of the Vaticide, which is now set for international release on June 23rd by Stygian Black Hand. In some respects it’s primitive and bestial, but in so many other ways it’s elaborate and genuinely head-spinning.
To back up that assertion, we’ve got a song from the new album named “Ziziphus Paliurus” to share with you today. Before we get to that, however, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the album’s first single, “Deflowering Jerusalem“.
It’s not hard to understand why Black Eucharist picked that song as the first track to share with the public. It’s an immediate introduction to both the savage ugliness and the intrigue of the band’s music. The venomous vocals sound like a beast snarling while choking down bone and gristle, and the drums hammer like over-driven pistons. The sizzling guitars rapidly writhe and dart in sharp angles, like convulsions of madness, but also coldly whir in the low end like a brutal swarm of feeding horrors from another dimension.
But there’s also something enthralling about those constantly changing guitar patterns, in tandem with the prominent bass escapades and the athletic drum fills and off-kilter beats. There’s no relent in the attacking speed, and that makes the intricacy of the performances even more exhilarating. Definitely predatory and malignant music, but dazzling music as well.
And now we come to “Ziziphus Paliurus“, which only reinforces the impressions created by that first single. It’s also a barbaric assault, rushing ahead at heated speed and led by vocals that vent the words in fanatically enraged howls. But once again, the frenzied riffing cavorts and careens with wild abandon, and the rhythm section put on another exhilarating show.
This time, however, Black Eucharist turn down the heat in the song’s mid-section, dragging and clawing in a sign of grim cruelty and oppressiveness — before once again giving your head an exhilarating spin. And they slow the mad race one more time before the end, creating moods of seething anger, lurching menace, and dismal hopelessness. Even in those slower phases, however, the rhythm section continue to fascinate.
P.S. Based on our researching, Ziziphus Paliurus seems to be the Latin name for the small thorned tree or shrub whose spiny branches were used to make the crown of thorns for Christ before his crucifixion.
Black Eucharist‘s lineup consists of drummer Shemhamforash (Blood Ouroboros, Graven Hag), vocalist/guitarist Infestor (Demiser, Primitive Warfare), and bassist Gravepisser (Demiser).
Stygian Black Hand will release the album on vinyl and cassette tape formats, and pre-orders are available now:
PRE-ORDER:
http://stygianblackhand.bandcamp.com/album/inn-of-the-vaticide
MORE INFO:
http://www.stygianblackhand.com
https://www.facebook.com/stygianblackhand
https://www.facebook.com/BlackEucharist