Belphegor – Blood Magick Necromance

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Nuclear Blast
Produced by Peter Tägtgren

Belphegor have been churning out fairly competent blackened death metal albums for a decade and a half now. The problem was, one album sounded more or less like the one(s) before it, and all of them seem to have lacked that certain special “something” that truly grabs a listener’s attention and forces him or her to come back as soon as possible for another listen.

I’ve read reviews of past albums in which Belphegor’s sound was described as “rote black metal with some death metal flourishes”, and unfortunately I would have to agree for the most part. That is, until now.

Blood Magick Necromance is Belphegor’s ninth studio album, and this time, these Austrian stalwarts have really (finally) created something quite special. During the opening moments of the first track, I noticed two things right away. First, the production on this album is clean and slick, which allows the extremely tight musicianship of these brutal speed demons to be heard in its full glory. Quite honestly, I was reminded of bands such as Behemoth and Nile – comparisons which would have never occurred to me with Belphegor’s previous material. Second, and perhaps more importantly, I noticed something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I might have described it as a “hook”, but that term didn’t seem quite right. I thought about the word “beauty”, but that word didn’t seem appropriate either.

Then it occurred to me. The word I was looking for was, quite simply, “appeal”. I couldn’t describe exactly why, but I was dying to hear the next track, and then the next, and then the one after that – and I was genuinely disappointed as the album finally drew to a close. For the first time with this band, I wanted more.

Belphegor have finally done it with “Blood Magick Necromance”. They’ve made an album which grabs (this) listener’s attention and forces him to come back as soon as possible for another listen. I’ve been back dozens of times since my first listen, and I fully expect to return many more times to come.

“ extremely tight musicianship ”

Tracklist: In Blood – Devour This Sanctity / Rise To Fall And Fall To Rise / Blood Magick Necromance / Discipline Through Punishment / Angeli Mortis De Profundis / Impaled Upon The Tongue of Sathan / Possessed Burning Eyes / Sado Messiah

Written by Chris Poling
More: 2011, Albums, Death Metal, Belphegor