Corpus Christii Portugal

"This release draws on very conventional Norwegian-inspired black metal, which means furious blastbeats and oddly melodic tremolo-riffs with strange and sometimes even dissonant harmonies. And that in itself, when executed properly, is not a bad thing - and on this release, it is executed properly.

But Corpus Christii combine these with other elements such as melodic passages, and inherently melodic blastbeat-and-tremolo riffage as well as heavy doomy and sometimes gothic-sounding passages and elements which are almost avant-garde sounding. There are even a couple of groovy and thrashy passages every now and then.

While the music is - true to its black metal nature - relatively minimalistic, there are a couple of epic elements, such as dark quires and some chords that just have a grand sound and feel to them.

I like how Corpus Christii make sure that the songs are not too long and monotonous by having relatively varied and, at times, quite dynamic compositions. I know that many black metal fans appreciate repetition, and there is plenty of that, too, on this album, but Corpus Christii do not overdo it, and that is just something I, as a music fan in general, appreciate.

The vocals sound like an angrier and more aggressive version of Attila Csihar, but you will also hear the typical black metal snarl every now and then.

The production is cold and bleak (a good thin in a black metal context) with one guitar in each speaker and the bass in the middle (you can actually hear the bass), and the drums are quite well defined in terms of their sound and presence in the overall sound. The production is probably lo-fi by today's standards, but it is not unbearable to listen to, and you can hear everything that is going on.

Personally, I think that "Luciferian Tendencies" is a fine black metal release which contains enough conventional elements that it ought to appeal to many fans of the genre, but at the same time it is characterized, I think, by innovativity and contributes positively to the genre.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"