BEST OF POLISH: DEVILPRIEST / STELLAR BLIGHT / THANATOREAN

Welcome to another edition of “The Best of British” where I… wait, what’s that?

Yes, it looks like today’s article has officially been hijacked by the Polish, who have come to offer us a bevy of blackened delights courtesy of a mix of established artists and brand-new bands (who, as it turns out, are also made up of some familiar names and faces).

DEVILPRIEST – WHERE I AM THE CHALICE, BE THOU THE BLOOD

Look, Devilpriest might be listed as “Death Metal” in most places across the internet (including on their own Bandcamp page) but on Where I Am the Chalice… their sound is about as blisteringly scorched and “blackened” as it’s possible to be without tipping over into full on Black Metal.

Of course, the boundary between Death and Black has always been somewhat nebulous and/or permeable, which is why we have so many bands identifying as “Blackened Death Metal” or “deathly Black Metal” and everything in between, so ultimately what you choose to call this particular piece of bloody metallic meat (which will definitely appeal to fans of bands like Azarath, Antaeus, and Angelcorpse) doesn’t really matter.

No, the proof is ultimately in the pudding… or, in this case, the pounding that songs such as “He Is In Me” and “Dragon of Blasphemy” are capable of delivering, while also accenting and enhancing their destructive barrage of blastbeats and blasphemy with an array of cruelly catchy melodic touches (the former being especially, and unexpectedly, infectious) and gargantuan, gut-wrenching grooves.

Indeed, as impressive as the band are when they put their foot to the floor and go all out (the more heavily Black Metal leaning assault of “The Enmity Against the Grace” barely takes its foot off the gas as it races out of the speakers in just over four fire-breathing minutes) it’s the – and I don’t use this word lightly, since I know a lot of Black Metal and Black Metal adjacent fans can react badly to it – massive, merciless grooves of tracks like “Unwavering in the Left Hand Path” (whose grim, bone-grinding pace occasionally erupts in erratic bursts of blastbeats, just to keep you on your toes) and “Channelling Into the Peerless Transgressiveness” (which might just feature the catchiest-yet-nastiest chorus hook on the entire album) which often land with the most weight and leave the biggest impression.

Of course, it’s actually the dynamic contrast between these two extremes – as epitomised by lethal mid-album lynchpin “SNEGTH IER ARNES” and colossal closer “The Prayer of Hell” (a personal favourite of mine) – which increases the album’s overall impact, and its staying power, thus proving that the old Polish maxim “Co za dużo, to niezdrowo“…which emphasises the importance of balance and moderation… still holds true, even in the realms of Black Metal (or Blackened Death Metal, or whatever you want to call it).

STELLAR BLIGHT – EVENTIDE: SYNOD OF THE DYING STARS

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that Stellar Blight – whose line-up includes current and ex-members of bands like Blaze of Perdition, Shodan, and Narbo Dacal (whose debut was one of my favourite albums of 2023) – are pretty big fans of Dissection, specifically the strutting, Heavy and Melodic Death Metal inflected strains of Reinkaos (and if you’re also a fan of that album, or someone with a lot of love for classic Necrophobic or even early Skeletonwitch, then you’re probably going to like Synod of the Dying Stars a whole lot too).

What ultimately ends up separating Stellar Blight from other, more overt “tribute” acts, however is the fact that although its influences are readily apparent its songwriting feels less like its trying to simply copy and recapture someone else’s sound and more like an attempt to deliver the worthy successor – the next, natural step – which time and circumstance robbed us of.

Take songs like furious, fist-pumping opener “Doves Into Serpents” and the brilliantly bombastic “Second Death”, for example, which organically extend and expand upon the Reinkaos formula by incorporating even more swaggering Heavy Metal hookiness, lashings of hellishly catchy lead guitar heroics and (in the case of the latter track) even slipping in some slinky saxophone where you least expect it, willingly sacrificing overt extremity in favour of instant memorability (which is a trade-off that more than pays off over the course of the album’s forty-three minute run-time).

True, not every track hits the same heights (instrumental “Eventide”, despite another stellar solo, is arguably superfluous to requirements, and the second half of the album, barring energetic closer “Weaponised Compassion”, isn’t quite as strong overall) but the record’s many highlights – in addition to the aforementioned “Doves…” and “Second Death”, the run of tracks which begins with the glorious, Glorior Belli-esque Black ‘n’ Roll grooves of “World Wide Woe” (a personal favourite of mine) and the anthemic, arena-ready strains of the title-track, then continues on into the sinister, bluesy swagger of “Maggots in Awe” (which, partially due to its use of gorgeously gloomy acoustic guitars in the bridge, quickly became the favourite of a certain ex-NCS writer), makes for an absolutely irresistible combination – more than justify the price of admission to this rollicking Black Metal rollercoaster!

THANATOREAN – EKSTASIS OF SUBTERRANEAN CURRENTS

The dynamic (or, possibly, demonic) duo who make up Thanatorean are no strangers to the wild, and weird, world of Black Metal that’s for sure, and some of you will probably already be familiar with their previous work(s) in Cultum Interitum and Ars Magna Umbrae.

But, even so, chances are you won’t be expecting the streamlined sharpness of Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents the very first time you push “play” and the album kicks in with the raw, pulsing dissonance and savage, scorched-earth atmospherics of “The Descent”.

That’s not to say there aren’t certain elements here reminiscent of the pair’s previous works – particularly when it comes to the abrasive aggression and subtly understated technicality of their delivery (with early stand-outs like “With Tongues of the Underworld” and “Thrice Hexed” showcasing an impressive mix of skittering, shape-shifting fretwork and lithe, looping bass lines amidst all the keening chaos and asphyxiating murk) – but Ekstasis… is very much its own beast (something which becomes ever more apparent as the album goes on).

What really makes it stand out, however (and, make no mistake, this is definitely one of the most interesting and impressive “debut” albums of the year so far) is the cleverness of its songwriting and the prominence of its many, maliciously infectious, hooks, the combination of which gives each of these songs – especially in the album’s exquisite second half – a life and identity of their own.

“De Profundis”, for example, is just under four minutes of moody, doomy menace and eerie, hypnotic anti-melody that feels far bigger and far grander than its relatively succinct run-time might suggest, while the lurching low-end and claustrophobic dissonance of “To Abyss Sacrosanct” possess a monstrous, irresistible sense of weight and momentum, after which the feverish pulse and frantic energy of “In Reverent Throes” proves just as visceral and virulent in its own way.

And then there’s the closing pairing of “Bound Beneath and Beyond” and “Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents” – the former a groaning, gloom-heavy slow-burner that grows darker and more oppressive with each passing moment, the latter a singular summation of everything that has gone before it that climaxes in a devastating deluge of piercingly discordant, pseudo-melodic hooks and punishingly dense riffage – which ends the album in such a fashion that you’ll be left hungry for more… and likely consumed by the instant impulse to spin the whole album all over again.