LIVE REVIEW: Belphegor, Enthroned and Nervochaos bring Satanic worship to Belfast in a hail of riffs.

SATAN was in the house and there was three bands to hail Lucifer's arrival in the Limelight.

First to welcome the Fallen angel wee Brazilian black death metal maniacs NervoChaos.

Grinding death influenced guitars and ferocious drumming set the tone for the next thirty minutes.

The bellowed vocals of Lauro Nightrealm thundered through the venue. The high energy set had everyone paying utmost attention. Heads were banging and horns were in the air.

The performance was tight, thoroughly entertaining and a strong start to the madness that followed.

Next to hail the Lord of Light were Belgian black metal heavyweights Enthroned. The blistering guitars, blastbeats and rumbling bass fired everyone into a headbanging frenzy, orchestrated by the ominous presence of man mountain Nornagest.

The dark imagery, corpse paint and eerie lighting  only intensified the evil spewing out of the amplifiers. Enthroned showed over the course of forty minutes why they have been a driving force in black metal for nearly 25 years.

Every eye was transfixed by the dark Satanic madness conspiring on stage. The powerful vocals, razor sharp musicianship and a certain flair for the dramatic held the room captive from start to finish.

As the lights then dimmed to a creepy blue and crosses made of bones and goat skulls adorned the stage the ravenous congregation edged their way closer to witness what was to come.

Austrian blackened death metal giants Belphegor tore the Limelight to pieces in support of their absolute beast of a new album, ‘Totenritual’.

The stage presence was absolutely fear inducing, as a heavily corpsepainted Helmuth Lehner and his morbid band of madmen caused aural carnage and mayhem in its rawest form.

The monstrous bass, crushing blastbeat drumming and shredding fretwork turned the place into a nightmarish warzone.

The Limelight was now a place of evil, and Helmuth made sure nobody forgot it with demonic roars, inhuman shrieks and rasping eerie monologues throughout the performance.

It was a night of pure darkness in Belfast. A night that those in attendance will not soon forget.

Despite the lineup being plagued by Deströyer 666 and Nordjevel dropping out at relatively short notice NervoChaos, Enthroned and Belphegor put on a show that shook the Limelight to its very core.

Review by Phil Noonan
Pictures by Darren McVeigh

ALBUM REVIEW: Belphegor offer up the best of death and black on the awesome Totenritual

FOLLOWING their 2014 album Conjuring the Dead Austrian blackened death metal trio Belphegor are back with Totenritual, a satanic slice of demonic roars, blistering riffs and blastbeats that will certainly send your friendly neighbourhood Christians running for cover.

'Totenritual' consists of nine pummelling tracks to bring about the apocalypse. The first  track,'Baphomet' delivers from the get go. Devastating riffs and inhuman double kicks drumming smack you in the face from the first note. The vocals are formidable, jumping effortlessly between guttural death metal roars and black metal shrieks. Blastbeats and hefty riffs are the order of the day on this track, a great opener and a small taste of the horrors to come.

'The Devils Son' starts off with an ominous message, “you are tainted, the devil is in your flesh!” followed by a hair raising scream and breakneck blasts. Evil shredding and some tasty leads ensue as the colossal bellows of Helmuth Lehner cut through the Satanic noises of hell.

The outro is beautiful  (yes I just described a Belphegor song as beautiful!), acoustic guitars fade out the song and into 'Swinefever – Regent of Pigs' which contains an audioclip of the Exorcist III. The riffs and drumbeats are extremely heavy - heavy like Thor’s hammer heavy. Punishing and brutal the song thunders along at breakneck speed. The drumming is insane and the vocals are absolutely crushing. The leadwork fits the song perfectly with chaotic fretwork and the howls and roars make the atmosphere more dense than that simple cousin everyone of us seems to have.

Fourth track, 'Apophis – Black Dragon' has one of the greatest black/death riffs to be heard in a long while. The blastbeats, the chainsaw like guitars and vocals that can only be described as like a demonic possession victim reminds me so much of the aggressive sound of the Swedish black metal scene.

Bands like Marduk and Dark Funeral especially come to mind. It’s dark, it’s ominous and it’s absolutely dripping with evil. A favourite track hands down.

The next track, 'Totenkult – Exegesis of Deterioration' begins with what can only be described as what a mental hospital would sound like, followed by vicious blasts and a chugging, grinding riff giving way to supersonic axework and the hammers of hell trying to break through Earth’s surface.

It’s so immensely heavy and brutal, and those throat ripping roars just add to the weight. The leadwork is superb, a perfect balance of melody and chaos.

Following up 'Totenkul'” is 'Totenbeschwörer', a creepy midpaced instrumental that really gets under your skin, a great little piece of evil music to contemplate where you might be heading when you die.

'Spell of Reflection' doesn’t take any time at all stabbing your ears with a skull crushing death metal riff and midpaced pounding drums to match. The vocals are just so evil, it’s like listening to Linda Blair on one of her bad days and it’s glorious.

Shredding and double kicks batter your ear canals until they bleed. You’re gonna need a neck brace after this one.

Track eight, 'Embracing a Star' lures you into a false sense of security with a chilling free bars of acoustic guitar work before military precision drumming kicks in and chanted verses like the sinister black mass you were too afraid to attend. The track picks up into blastbeats, blastbeats and even more blastbeats.

Tremolo picked black metal grinding cuts through the song, and the devilish spewing of blasphemy would make even the most badass of badasses tremble. Waves of dissonance and ill will surround this track. Absolutely brilliant.

The ninth and final track is 'Totenritual' itself, and what an end to this terrifyingly wondrous album...

It’s just pure blackened nastiness at its absolute best. Horrifically heavy and so fast it would leave a formula one driver thinking “wtf?”, Totenritual is demonic, aggressive and embodies the best aspects of the genre.

If you like your black metal with a little more weight or your death metal with a little more Satan get this album. You will not be disappointed.

Review by Phil Noonan

Totenritual is available from Nuclear Blast - Belphegor play Belfast with Destroyer 666 and others at The Limelight on October 12th...

NEWS: Let darkness descend in October as Belphegor brings their Toten Ritual tour with a dark host accompanying them

IN the dark days of October, when the spirits of the damned roam across the land a glorious gloom is set to descend upon Belfast. The European Toten Ritual Tour is coming...

The Black Metal Crusade 2017 brings Belphegor, Destroyer 666, Enthroned, NervoChaos and Nordjevel to our city on October 12th, a Thursday set to be marked in infamy as the Dark Lord resides in the Limelight.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday 5th July. No need to sell your soul in advance, at a mere £25 you too can join the metal court of Beelzebub.

But beware offending He who of many names: The Adversary, Belial, Lucifer, The Serpent of Old or Mephistopheles for he is the Archfiend...Place this date in your diabolical diary lest you miss the opening symphony of discord as this is an early show... Doors are at 5:30pm and the first band conjures evil intent a mere 15 dark minutes later.

Come to the Mass of metal massacre, join the Toten Ritual, and maybe have some of the Devil's Buttermilk too.

Ohh and Belphegor are releasing their new album Toten Ritual on September 15th...

 

ALBUM REVIEW: Bestial Blackness from Belphegor on Conjuring the Dead

FROM the depths of hell one of the seven princes of that forsaken place, Belphegor emerged...then the demonic prince heard the band he was named after, Belphegor, and went straight back to Lucifer to report that their evil intent was being spread around the world by Helmuth and Serpenth.

And, now, once more Belphegor are spreading their dark symphonies in the shape of 'Conjuring The Dead', their latest release in a long line of black metal albums.

Full on as always, this is how the label's press release describes it: "The ten new compositions unleash a state of brutality yet unknown to mankind. Soundscapes of a melodic monstrosity, forceful & fierce yet fulfilled with razor sharp precision. Straight in-your-face onslaughts, devastating string-slaughter, blazing machine gun drums and the sickest vo-kills [sic]." 

Does it live up to the hype? Can it live up to hype that has so much hyperbole?

On one level it does, and on another it is more of the same from Belphegor with slightly more mature musicianship. And, that's not necessarily a bad thing...

Take for example the track 'Lucifer, Take her'. A combination of brooding riffs, slow delicate sections and full-tilt speed have all the ingredients one would expect from Belphegor.

But the danger always is that it can be easy to descend into parody of oneself. The same 'evil vo-kills' and the same malevolence. However, Helmuth and Serpenth escape this by excelling within the tight constraints of their blueprint.

Aided by session drummer, Marthyn and guitarist Schoft they have produced a deeper range of variety within the band dynamic.

One must also take into consider that Helmuth was near to death in 2011 with a typhus infection. To come back in 2014 with such a powerful album is a testament to the force of will within the band.

That force of will is evident from the start with 'Gasmask Terror' unfurling a viciousness and straight punch into the face. Salzburg - from which Belphegor originate - must have something in the air to piss these guys off.

The lyrical themes are the usual blasphemy, delivered with enough malevolence to avoid it sounding ridiculous.

Glenn Benton (Deicide) and Attila Csihar (Mayhem) join in the fun and games on 'Legion of Destruction' to keep the hate quotient at a high level.

From 'Gasmask Terror' to closer 'Pactum in Aeternum' Belphegor have delivered an extremely enjoyable dose of blackened death metal, full of musical punch, and enough lyrical vileness to bring a smile...if you know what we mean! Yes, it mostly lives up to the hype.

Review by Jonny

Conjuring the Dead is out now on Nuclear Blast

Gasmask Terror Video...to give you as taste....