Style: progressive death/black metal (mostly harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Akercocke, Slugdge, Opeth, Cynic, Schammasch
Review by: Sam
Country: United Kingdom
Release date: 29 June 2018
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally published in the June 2018 issue of The Progressive Subway, before we even had a website!]
JESUS CHRIST (pun intended) take a look at that album (and band) name. It’s so ridiculous. One really needs a special kind of creativity to come up with something so edgy yet brilliant at the same time. I doubt even a room full of emo teens could think of this. This is not something for the faint of heart. And (un)holy fuck the music is brilliant as well. It’s a very brutal, yet fun listen. The Antichrist Imperium play a mix of (progressive) black and death metal, and both parts are equally brilliant. The death metal parts are aggressive and groovy and the black metal parts hit you hard as fuck with crazy blast beats and tremolo picking. Oh, and they can shred as well. The songs are varied in structure too. Aside from the black/death riffing onslaught, they incorporate softer prog rock sections with clean vocals as well. They mostly opt to go for a chant-like approach in the singing to enhance the feeling that you’re in some crazy Satanic ritual. However, the singing is quite weak so they don’t fully achieve the desired effect. The softer sections are also definitely the worst thing about this album. They tend to go on for too long and often feel a bit pointless. Most of the album is phenomenal though. This is an excellent pick if you want to be pummeled with riffs, but at the same time need some weirdness in between. Overall I immensely enjoyed this one and it’ll probably end up in my top 10 list.
Recommended tracks: Ceremonial Suicide Rites, Golgothian Hieros Gamos, Sermon of Small Faith
You may also like: Hands of Despair
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website
The Antichrist Imperium is:
– Sam Loynes (vocals)
– Matt Wilcock (guitars)
– Sam Bean (bass, vocals)
– David Gray (drums)
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