The Supreme Art of Genocide

In a lot of ways, this album is a sort of natural sequel (or some would say regression) of 'Vector33'. In a lot of ways, this is a much more traditionally black metal album than the more experimental 'Vector33'- the songwriting is much clearer and more streamlined than on that album and the riffing is more in line with Lucifugum's older works. However, to just say this is just Lucifugum going back to their roots would be dismissing a lot of the great elements of this disc. In reality, this album brings 'Vector33' back to a more concrete and musical place, which ultimately makes this the album that 'Vector33' probably should have been.

The aberrant elements are still here- the weird, linear riffs, the kind of confusing drumwork, a fairly thin production job (though not nearly as excruciating as the previous album)- but more importantly, they're streamlined and put within the framework of a more traditional black metal sound. The bleak, atonal riffs that defined the last album are reigned in here, both calling back to older work such as 'On Hooks To Pieces!' and also taking the band's whole sound forward. The riffs here don't sound like riffs, and the guitars don't sound like guitars- in fact, all the strings on here sound like a chorus of buzzing violins. The riffs are long and convoluted and a lot of times it's hard to tell where one ends and another begins. Moreover, the riffs are just WEIRD; they're like sardonic plays on French melodic black metal, with pretty medieval melodies turning twisted and sour through weird, erratic note placement. More than on any other Lucifugum release, I detect a lot of Mütiilation influence on this release.

Another neat element is that we finally get to hear Stabbath's vocals in a manner not obscured by the cloudy production of 'Vector33'. She does an admirable job: they're conventional black metal vocals, but with a weirdly putrid, wretched tone to them, appropriate for the sour, ugly melodies that dot this disc. Quite frankly, this album has some of the most memorable material Lucifugum have ever done. The Ukrainians have never been particularly focused on catchiness, but 'The Supreme Art of Genocide' actually stumbles into it quite regularly. You'll never confuse this for another band- the very odd grasp of rhythm and nausea-inducing melodies confirm that- but this is one of the closest moments in the band's later career that they've gotten to composing something accessible.

This is a solid album for those new to the band to start with- it gives a good overview of the sort of sound you'll hear from Lucifugum in the second half of their career and is excellent in its own right. Definitely a worthwhile purchase for any black metal fans who like their material twisted and ugly.

This was a shocker, especially considering the text put on the back of the album. “We don’t play, we attack by antihuman poisonous black metal!” Slogans like that usually make me think of a bunch of drunken idiots making shitty bedroom black metal, however Lucifugum play a much different brand of black metal.

My usual black metal rotation consists of such bands as Aborym, Graveland, Deathspell Omega and several other obscure underground groups so the raw melodic nature of this album was a nice change. The sound takes several influences from Abigor and to some extent Darkthrone (early).

The guitars blaze through the entire album producing a very consistent melody. This becomes trance inducing after a while, until the albums ending. There are a few bass lines located throughout several of the song, and the instrument is surprisingly existent.

All the lyrics are in Russian, or a similar such language so after awhile the subject matter becomes meaningless (unless you know the language). The vocals are pretty consistent throughout the entire album, with minimal effects (some of the vocal tracks echo).

You can tell that the drums are obviously programmed, however the production balances this. There mixed lower than the guitars, so there used mainly as a timing device. While not consistent blasting the drum patterns are not really something special.

I like the production on here, seriously it isn’t the usual underground bedroom non-existent production that seems to plague almost every other black metal I own (or have once owned). He sound is very clean but at the same time the raw sound atmosphere is still present, similar to the Marduk album World Funeral.

If you get the CD you also get a bonus video. This isn’t some shitty live performance, it is a very well produced black metal video, showcasing some kind of occult ritual. The only problem I have with it is the outdated church burning footage they used for a couple clips, there footage was obviously outdated and would have benefitted from some kind of restoration.

Fans of Darkthrone would find a lot to get into on this album. If you can make yourself look past the underground gimmicks (especially the made up word “unhuman”) you can really see the top quality of this album. I know ill be shelling out more of my money for there material in the near future.