Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult

Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is an album that truly feels like a journey. A journey into the dark abyss of a cold and dark cave with a presence leading your further into the cave where a cult resides. In fact, that's a huge thing to me personally about this album in particular. All the songs sound in place with each other, as they should, but something I want to bring up is the fact that all the songs flow really well together. Seriously, the track listing/order is such an overlooked yet integral thing to an album, and this is one of the best examples of this concept. I'm not sure I could really name many other albums that flow this well. Maybe Talk Talk's It's my Life and some of the Agalloch albums, but that's probably it.

Now to step away from the atmosphere and whatnot of the album, and finally step into the music, we shall start with the guitars. There's a noticeable absence of tremolo picking on this album. Like sure there's a little bit here and there, but it's not very common at all here. A lot of the notes are uptempo eighth notes made up of either power chords or these eerie minor chords being slowly picked up and down, with some palm muted stuff also present. I haven't really heard this type of black metal very often in listening experience, and I feel it really contributes to this album standing out from the rest of the crowd of black metal releases. And while we're speaking on Dagon's end, I'll speak on the vocals. I plain and simply love them. They really fit the music and they don't overpower the riffs he's playing, and I am confident in saying that was the point, which is backed up by a fair few interviews with Dagon. Though I don't want to leave out the fact that there are a few traditional black metal vocals on the first track, Unholy Magic Attack.

Now with the drums on this album (fair warning I'm a guitar player, not a drummer), Incubus goes all out here. Everything he plays is tasteful. He never overplays like so many other black metal drummers tend to do. He varies what he plays, and not just when the pace of a song drops off or picks back up, but even in the more uptempo parts he varies his playing up. He doesn't overdo his blast beats at all, and a lot of what he plays sounds more reminiscent of jazz tendencies than straight metal influences. The song could pick up, and he might alternate with the kick drums and play almost a standard rock beat over it, or he might just intermittently play his ride, like at the beginning of a measure. He really plays what he feels necessary for the parts of the song, and not to show off and be flashy on purpose.

Also there's bass on this album. It's standard metal bass.

Now onto specifics of the songs and production.

My favorite songs on the album happen to be Solitary Death in the Nocturnal Woodland, Unholy Magic Attack, Journey to Infernukeorreka, and Those of the Night, with the intro riff to Those of the Night being one of the first riffs I learned on guitar when I first started, so there's that little piece of knowledge. In Solitary Death, the song is just this evil and extremely doomy crawl, which as the song progresses, more and more pinch harmonics are played in the lead riff, adding more tension as it progresses, and you can oddly enough hear someone talking towards the end of the recording, which I find quite odd that they didn't catch this. Unholy Magic Attack has such a catchy main riff that plays under the chorus sections, and it gets easily stuck in the mind. Journey to Infernukeorreka has this really catchy and thrashy part almost abount ten or so seconds into the song which is also another catchy riff that gets stuck in the mind. Those of the Night's opening bending riff has a special place in my mind as it was one of my first riffs I ever learned on guitar.

The production is pretty great by 90's black metal standards. There's a good amount of low end to the overall sound of the album, giving it some legs to stand on, and not falling flat from being brittle and thin. As mentioned before, you can hear someone talking in the studio at the end of Solitary Death in the Nocturnal Woodland, though it's quiet enough not to break the immersion of the music, but it's still there and kinda bugs me a bit. The drum sounds is pretty great, and the guitar is present in the mix, while the vocals seem to be around the same level, if not a bit lower than the guitars. The bass is pretty absent, even though there's a credited bass player on the album, but otherwise the sound of the record is quite great.

All in all, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is a riff laden, thrash metal based black metal record that outclasses so many other records in the genre of black metal.

Inquisition are an extremely important band for me. Their idiosyncratic approach wowed me from the first time I heard "The Realm of Shadows Shall Forever Reign" on their MySpace way back in 2008. I was new to black metal, but I knew this was something different, something unique. Over the years their music has stayed important to me, and so I'd like to begin a series of reviews where I look back at each album and try to explain why Inquisition are so special.

I always loved the way this album began. A sample from the film Inquisition, followed by a quick furious burst. But then, when you figure you're in for a standard late 90s black metal album, it lurches to a halt with a slow riff utilizing a dissonant arpeggio. It's nothing too crazy, but it really eases you into Inquisition's style. If this album were to start with "The Initiation," it would throw too many people off, what with it's happy-sounding arpeggiated riffing and folksy lead.The way that lead alternates being played on acoustic and distorted electric guitar is genius. It breaks up the monotony while simultaneously creating an atmosphere through its repetition.

The entire album is just crammed with moments like this that I can't help but admire, completely awestruck. The ending of "Those of the Night" is pure magic. The way Dagon's able to craft riffs that are so emotionally intense, yet sound so dark and evil never ceases to amaze me. The double bass flourishes in the bouncy main riff and the growled "WORSHIP SATAN" in the chorus of "Journey to Infernukeorreka," the way the line "immortality I seek" is emphasized in "Summoned by Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon;" these are just little, tiny subtleties that add so much to this album.

The atmosphere here is extremely obscure and ritualistic. Much of this is owed to the production. It's dingy and raw, yet everything is audible (well almost, but more on that later). It sounds like a fog is encroaching around the edges. Maybe it's just the Mortician fan in me, but the samples add a lot to the album, and almost work to form a narrative. The album is the sound of someone making a Faustian pact with Lucifer for immortality and the nocturnal ritual of human sacrifice in the woods to seal the deal. A song like "Solitary Death in the Nocturnal Woodlands" shows you the unease and regret this person seeking immortality has with dealing with a force as powerful as Satan. Dagon's croaked vocals are the recitations of praise while he slowly kills the offering to his god.

Musicaly, this is the most indebted to Immortal, early Burzum and Graveland that Inquisition ever was. Like virtually every band before them, they wore their influences on their sleeves on their debut. Granted they take those bands' approach and make it their own, but this isn't the sound of a band that's 100% found its own style. There's also considerable traces of their thrash metal past on this album, with the instrumental title track having what is essentially a thrash break. They make this fit by throwing in a sweet arpeggio at the end of the riff.

I think I had been listening to this album for two or three years before I found out there's apparently a bassist on this album, which tells you all you really need to know about its contributions. If you try really, really hard, you can hear it following the guitar exactly. The tone is pretty weak and shitty and its mixed so low that it might as well not even be on the album. It adds nothing at all. Doesn't detract anything either. It's just kinda there lurking in the background. Like it stumbled upon the sacrificial ritual that is the album while walking through the woods one night and it observed the whole thing from a distance, careful to not be seen in the torchlight.

"Mighty Wargod of the Templars (Hail Baphomet)" is similarly pretty pointless, since it just kinda rehashes ideas you heard earlier while showing you how much Dagon likes Pure Holocaust. Again, it doesn't really detract from the album, as it's not a bad song by any means. It just doesn't do anything to enhance the album or show you why it deserves to be here.

Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is a great album. It's not the band's peak, like many seem to think, but its excellence is inarguable. Inquisition would write better riffs, songs; their lyrics improve from here drastically, but they never wrote an album as atmospherically immersive as this one. To call this one of the best late 90s black metal albums, or even one of the best debuts is to damn it with faint praise. By every possible stretch, this is a mandatory listen for anyone who kinda maybe cares about black metal. If you haven't yet, give it a spin.

The more time passes by, the more I realize how many bands I have somehow managed to totally miss, bands that have been even essential and foundative in black metal. Inquisition could be mentioned as one of the most important black metal groups from the Americas, so being a newbie to their 1998 major debut Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult until some days ago was admittedly shameful.

Now that I’ve discovered this gem of nineties’ USBM, I am not only happy because I finally know what’s all the fuzz about, but because the actual material here is brilliant. Inquisition seems to have their own thing going on right on their first full-length, which basically means crushing, almost death metalish riffing that meets hazy, dream-like, atmospheric, melancholic chord pluckings. So while the first part of some certain riff kicks ass with pure power, the latter part of that riff suddenly turns into wistful, tear-evoking mysteriousness. These riffs are often repeated a lot and often even without vocals, an evident example being the 9-minute ”Summoned by Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon” that has a long instrumental section towards its end.

This massive 66-minute whole is based on this definite element in the guitar department, though there are some interesting deviations from the paradigm, like the folkish, lively tunes that appear a couple of times on ”The Initiation”. For one straight listen, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult might be too much to handle, resulting in boredom due to the quite unchanging nature of the compositions, but when savored in a little smaller portions, the music’s ingenuity starts to shine and I can not name one weak track of any of the ten.

By now I’ve already gotten to the fourth paragraph and there’s still been no mention of the vocals that have been the dividing point between the band’s lovers and haters, and ultimately the most distinctive feature of Inquisition. While some find Dagon’s vocal delivery just laughable, I think the almost robotic, frog-like faint snarling works well in these magical pieces of black metal that predominantly concentrate more on atmosphere than the attitude of who’s the heaviest and sickest sounding throat killer of all.

The production deserves a mention too as, in fact, it’s another big plus in the album’s book. It’s warm and detailed yet has just enough sharpness for the power chord riffage and enough smoothness for the melancholic pluckings. Also, drums are recorded with more than just one microphone so that they have a nice amount of detail present, and no complaints either for the bass guitar that together with drums form the well working rhythmic basis of Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult.

It might be that at the moment I’m just in a mood of utter Inquisition hype and by next week the album doesn’t sound that special anymore, but right now I’m willing to go as far as handing almost a full score to the record. I’m always hesitant to give this high points for a newly found album, but what the heck, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult seems like an endurable album that I’ll be listening to in years to come. The right amount of originality in this sort of underground black metal and the terrific atmosphere makes this piece one of my favourites of late.

4.5 / 5
[ http://www.vehementconjuration.com/ ]

Risks.

Considering the extremity of death and black metal, and their relative level of inaccessibility to the general public, one might assume that such bands were more fond of taking great risks with the delivery of their musical output. Yet, we find this happening too rarely. Most are simply content to process their magic in the footfalls of those to come before, perhaps edging them out in production or pace, but rarely in the magnitude of grotesquery their forebears summoned into existence upon the material realm with even less resources. We need to face facts, throwing on corpse paint and playing diabolic anthems to Satan is simply not enough in many cases. Such bands might still write a damn good album, punishing if derivative, but in the long run will they have the same impact as the originators?

Sometimes, though, an artist comes along that, through some method, manages a distinction upon the norm, and the (formerly) Colombian band Inquisition belongs to this rare species. Musically, they commit acts of ghastly, oppressive occult black/death metal, but where they stand out is in the use of garbled, amphibian vocal rituals in place of the expected black rasp used by so many others in the genre. Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult was the band's 1998 debut, recently reissued through Hell's Headbangers with some fresh artwork, and it still stands today as the band's most impressive output, with ripping old school black riffs and the echoing, signature vocals that will haunt you long despite any initial imperative to laugh out loud at them. Inquisition have over an hour here of meticulously grim, wicked evocations that are very likely the best of their kind to ever escape the band's home terrain.

Beyond the obvious use of the strange vocals, the band is also notable for their dynamic versatility. Obvious influences are culled from European acts like Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Celtic Frost, Borknagar and Emperor, and maybe a little US cult metal like Acheron, but the way the Colombians write their material is an open process that achieves maximum impact upon the listener due to the relative ease of digestion. For example, "The Initiation" uses a simple, glimmering folk/black metal pattern of the riffing that recalls Borknagar, but its placed here in an entirely different, morbid occult context that one would never predict. "Summoned by Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon" also feels like some glorious ode calling at you from North European wastelands of history, and yet its instead crushing you from the South American jungles and the imagination of the sick fuck Dagon, a trip of turbulent, memorable riffing.

"Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult" itself is more of a Bathory meets Gorgoroth or Mayhem piece, with rolling drums and listless, steady rhythmic patterns that also makes good use of movie samples. "Solitary Death in Nocturnal Woodlands" is abrasive but beautiful, with a more sparse, raw appeal to the guitar work than other tracks here, as they lurch through the 9+ minute somber nightscape of the titular environment. "Hail the Cult" also features some ringing, ritual guitars over the echoing vocals, and "Journey to Infernukeorreka" has some glorious vocal swells and charging, punk/black rhythms that rock the facial skin off to reveal the leering devil below. But "Those of the Night" might be the most charismatic piece here, with a fun pattern of alternating guitar rhythms that bounce perfectly below the decrepit vocals before a melodic, majestic sequence that will take you by surprise.

For Inquisition, the risk to branch out and try something different has truly paid off, as most of their studio output offers a moderate to swollen level of quality unheard amongst most of their peers. The vocals are not the only focal point here, but the ability to deliver decent riffing that betrays the pure, typical necrostyle you'd expect from the band, and the incorporation of samples that seem more a trope in death metal than black. Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult may still be the band's finest hour, since it has this deliciously aged atmosphere that the others do not match up to completely. Sure, the delivery of the band's sinister lyricism might seem deceptively silly at first, but it could not fit the backdrop any better, a twisted replica of hellish dementia, corridors beyond the wall of human restraint and morality.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

When I was cycling through albums to review for my new batch, something clicked within me when I saw the cover art for this album. The whole thing just screamed “old school” at such a loud level I couldn’t ignore it. In these days of overly computerized cover art and production, there’s just something smile-inducing when you see an album like this; thoughts of years gone by, of analog and tape-trading, of old horror-themed computer games like “Splatterhouse” and “Forbidden Forest”, where the covers of “Blessed are the Sick” and “Tomb of the Mutilated” scared and sickened the ever-loving crap out of the bourgeoisie

So I had to give this a listen, to see if the music lived up to the fucked-up artistry…

Well, what can I say? This is some ugly, creepy shit…and for better or worse, the music DOES live up to the ugliness of the cover art. Old school black metal to the bone, this disc takes a “competent HELLHAMMER” approach and mixing it with the production values and performance of goat head-era BATHORY into something that drips with a sludgy black that could disgust regular metal fans. There’s a time and place for this kinda thing, and sometimes you just wanna lay back and let the musical equivalent of a festering swamp overtake you. The performance helps add to the venomous factor, where rusty buzz saw guitars, slightly demo-ish drum bashing, and some of the most fucked up vocals I’ve heard on a metal album (monotonous croaks meeting high-pitched vomiting…) collide like rotting corpses in a California mudslide. There’s something strangely beguiling with this release, akin to slowing down while driving past a terrible car crash in the hopes of spotting some visceral carnage, where the likes of “Those of the Night”, “The Initiation”, and “Summoned by Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon” showcase some great ideas in the riffs and arrangements more so than many other bands of their ilk.

So all in all I was mightily surprised with this disc. Indeed, these Columbians create just as creepy an atmosphere as their cover art suggests, so in this case judging a book by its cover truly does work. Hail and kill.

It seems that more and more today, people just lob the term "cult", or the newly reritten version, "kvlt", to just about everything that sounds like it was either composed by a bunch of kids who only know the basics about Black Metal in their mother's bathroom, bedroom, or garage. That or we find that it was recorded in a very good recording studio and made it sound as horrible as possible, or vice-versa. Well, Inquisition is one of these top notch cult bands, and no matter what review you look up about this release, Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult, it's nothing but praise for this act. And, once again, we are graced with it's pressence thanks to this reissue of the album. However, there comes many, many issues with this release.

First of all, how is this record considered top notch? How can someone honestly sit down with this album and give it a score of damn near or at one hundred percent, or even five out of five, or whatever the top score you may find on some websites would be. How is it possible for someone to sit down and not laugh their ass off for the first half of the album, then basically hang their head in absolute shame that this release is considered an important album of the cult/kvlt movement? Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is a musically strong album that starts off very rocky on some rather bland guitars on the first track, "Unholy Magic Attack", but you wouldn't know that at all with that song. Right away, it's impossible to not laugh at the horrible vocals that adorn every single song on this effort. At first, you'll start to feel bad, thinking perhaps the vocalist is using some sort of voice box, perhaps he had some sort of throat cancer and had to have surgery and now much use a voice box in order to even speak. But as you listen, you can hear him once in a while emphasize some words and you hear a bit of a rhasp put on it that voice boxes simply cannot generate. So, first comes shock and hysterics, then pity, then shame that people out there consider this insanely monotone spoken word performance to be a great push for Black Metal in any form.

The best way to explain this release would be for you to picture a second wave Black Metal act that seem to be almost robotic at times, as well as a few solid Black Metal tracks, and a few songs that sound really good and cause your blood to pump. Then throw in Immortal based vocals by Dimmu Borgir's Shagrath against his will after filling him full of horse tranquilizers. That basically sums up this "epic" release. Now this isn't to say all the material here is absolute garbage. Musically this album has some really strong tracks. Sure there's a good dose of generic tracks on here, but there's also some solid Metal performances. "Empire of Luciferian Race" shows the band at their Immortal-worshipping best with a slower paced song that is well composed and actually gives you the feeling like you're surrounded by ice thanks to some of the sounds that can be found here. Then you have some of the heavier, harder hitting tracks the bring the band's Thrash influence into the mix with "Those of the Night" and others that sound really good and get you excited before it's completely ruined by the absolutely horrendous vocal performance. "Summoned By Ancient Wizards Under a Black Moon" has some real potential musically and could very well be the hands down best track on here that shows the band's potential, but then as soon as vocalist Dagon kicks in it's ruined. Right off the bat, you'd expect some kind of energy before the Thrash-oriented introductory "ugh!" kinda noise he makes at the start, but instead, all you are greeted with is a back of the throat spoken word "ah." that sounds so horrible against the music you can't help but laugh even though you are so dramatically let down. And that's not the only time it's done, as it is done constantly during the song "Mighty Wargod of the Templars (Hail Baphomet)" as well, not to mention you hear the producer at the end of "Solitary Death in Nocturnal Woods" click over and tell whoever is in the studio to do it "again" as the song fades out.

This is not the only reissue of Inquisition's first full-length release. Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult was also reissued by two other labels. Dark Angel Records released a cassette version of this album, as did Defiled Records. At one point, there was a dual LP reissue through No Colours Records which included four bonus-tracks including rehearsal recordings of "Journey to Infernukeorreka" as well as "Unholy Magic Attack", as well as an ununsed introduction track called "Hail Baphomet", more then likely to go before "Unholy Magic Attack" on this release, as well as a re-recording of "Hail the Cult" from 1996. These songs are notably absent from this reissue, as are any bonus materials in general outside of some new artwork which looks nice, but doesn't really go hand in hand with the music found on this recording. Basically, this is a straight forward reissue for people who haven't picked up the original, or any of the countless reissues over the years.

Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult is easily one of the worst albums you could ever hope to hear, and it's really gut wrenching. There's plenty of great songs on here that had a lot of potential. Aside the one's mentioned above, there's "Journey to Infernukeorreka" which is a great, stand out track that really shows off the talent the group has to write some catchy Black Metal, but the vocals ruin everything. Even the over modulated gutteral vocals found on this track that that sound more like an evil possibly demon wind passing by would better have suited the entire album. If you haven't heard this release yet, now's not the time to even start. This may be one of the most cult/kvlt Black Metal recordings ever made according to many afficionados of this style, but, even for it's time of release, it's pretty much just a ruined gem by one sole person: Dagon.

I’ve begun to notice more and more that black metal can be divided into two major camps, one is the aggressive, fast and unpolished type played by bands like 1349, Beherit, and Marduk. The other kind is the very atmospheric, melodic and thought-out style like Emperor, Deathspell Omega, and Crimson Moon. The thing that really makes Inquisition a great band is that they can seamlessly mix these styles together. One song can be a flood of brutality and anger, then the preceding song can be a full on black metal epic. In some cases this mixing of styles is achieved in the same song (Unholy Magic Attack). This album has pretty good production so the faster, angrier songs aren’t very gritty and raw but all the elements are definitely there. In my honest opinion the melodic parts are the best at keeping the listener’s interest. Now I like blast beats and heavy riffs just as much as the next guy, but too much of the same formula can get boring the way its broken up with slower, more atmospheric parts makes you appreciate the fast ones even more. In a way this release is kind of schizophrenic with their switching between styles all the time.

I said earlier that the production on this album was good, I’m glad that it’s not like a really raw under-produced LLN demo because that would take away from some of the atmosphere. I’m also glad it’s not an album of over polished studio magic like Dimmu Borgir’s later albums; too much production can also take away from the atmosphere. Their production fits the way they play like a glove. The guitars are well played in this release, very precise during the faster parts without sounding mechanical also very clean during atmospheric parts, and the notes don’t ring out for too long or too short during these parts. I personally would’ve liked to see the guitars brought out just a little bit more in the mix. The bass is audible in this release which is something really good for black metal, it is in this genre especially that the bass seems to be absent from most bands. The bass does a really good job at making the atmospheric parts even more overwhelming and massive sounding. The drummer on this release really knows what he’s doing, he knows how to blast really well, and he knows how to make the slower parts even more dynamic. It’s good to see a metal drummer who knows their place, keeping the beat and backing up the guitars. I really hate it when the drums dominate the mix and render the guitars inaudible (this seems to most commonly happen in brutal death metal). The vocals, I’ll admit, took some getting used to. They aren’t the usual screams or growls; they are very reminiscent of Attila Csihar’s vocal performance on “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” except even more alien sounding. I’d definitely say that the vocals really help the entrancing affect this album has, like you can just get lost in it. Yes, the vocals are really strange but they don’t detract from the music at all, if anything they aid it.

Chances are if you like any black metal at all, you’ll be fond of this release. It has all the elements you would look for in a black metal album, not to mention the extremely good musicianship. Also the clips throughout this album about witchcraft and ritual magick give a very evil feel to the album (after hearing them I really want to find out what movie it is). I highly recommend this release.

Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult represents a landmark in black metal for me. It sparked an interest in South American black metal when there was none beforehand. Inquisition are the Colombian born black metal band with a difference. Their somewhat dirty production and far from typical vocals made me stand up and take notice. Although I have heard similar vocals within the scene before, i'm not necessarily accustomed to them. As stated, the production is probably the only downside to Into The Infernal Regions Of The Ancient Cult. It feels slightly amateurish, unpolished and has that annoying fussy sound that sounds incredibly bad over speakers. It's like listening to music with a blender in the background. It's hardly the worst i've heard, but it's not the best. The distorted guitars can sometimes be hard to hear in places, which forces my opinion of this otherwise fantastic debut full-length down. But not by much!


Inquisition have become a favourite of mine over recent months when I had barely noticed them before. I'm not entirely sure why I bypassed this album time and time again, in all honesty. It truly confuses me. However, now that I have heard it in it's entirety, I adore it. But how does one come to adore something so dark and hateful? Well, this is how ... Superb songwriting. Fantastic arrangement of songs. Solid guitars, a good assortment of double bass drum patterns and deep growled vocals. It's diversity is somewhat shocking for a black metal band. Many fans of the genre grow used to the monotonous dirges that black metal outfits produce time and time again. Sometimes it can feel as if you're listening to the same album when in fact you're not. This is not a feeling you get when Inquisition are playing.


The diverse range of guitar riffs adds to my already high opinion of this band. It's not straight forward. Instead of one riff repeated for a substantial amount of time and perhaps a second played somewhere in the middle, Inquisition use a variety of riffs to convey their emotions and religious beliefs, which are very much a common theme throughout. Perhaps the variation of guitar work is due to the fact that the band originally played thrash metal? It would seem likely as the majority of thrash music chops and changes several times throughout one song.


Inquisition have the undeniable ability to be able to play a slow section which soothes and drifts along like mist moves throughout the trees and then quicken the pace by use double bass and a number of creative catchy riffs. The vocals generally tend to play out at the same speed as the guitars and drums. Fast in places, slow at other times. I thought it was quite clever and so subtle is this change that it becomes quite hypnotic, which is appealing. The ability to be able to drift along harmoniously with the music as it ebbs and flows is nice. It appeals to the listeners senses.


Even though song lengths vary, the listener is never left with the feeling of being left unsatisfied. Songs last as long as they need to, which allows one to believe that Inquisition have put a lot of thought behind the music. It's not just mindless drivel. The highlights for me include Summoned By Ancient Wizards Under A Black Moon, Those Of The Night and Unholy Magic Attack.

Inquisition's 'Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult' is a diverse, powerful and original release by a band that operates with only two members. It is quite a surprise that this release doesn't receive more attention, being that it is certainly one of the more competent releases from this genre, with little to no flaws in workmanship and quality.

'Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult' runs on a unique formula in terms of sound quality and playing. The drumming is sharp and powerful and provides a steel backbone to this release without so much the slightest pinch of overt wankery. The guitar work gravitates from menacing uneasiness, fifth chords swaying back and forth in half-tone intervals, to simple single-note structures that conjure up and maintain a powerful, depressive atmosphere. The vocals will turn a lot of people off because the delivery is highly unique; there is no screaming, no scowling, no grim and tortured bestial moans, but flat, almost plainly spoken passages that wane and crest with the added hint of echo/delay. This is all culminates together on this release to create an almost mystical trancelike atmosphere which is easy to get lost in, and equally easy to get your ass kicked by.

'Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult' consists of ten tracks that equates to over a full hour of material, including a five minute instrumental, and two tracks that nearly peak at ten minutes in length. The first thing that would often come to my mind is the threat of repetition and the subsequent loss of interest that comes with long tracks, but the great thing about 'Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult' is that there is no repetition, and it's diverse and executed well enough that it has something to continually return to.

The subject content of this disc revolves around the praise of the dark idols, loyalty to the cult and subservience to Satan, but this isn't campfire nonsense here. Between the vocal delivery and the lyrical penmanship, this isn't a Dark Funeral album where Satan gets name-dropped at every open opportunity, this is blood, fire and blasphemy, for the purpose of blood, fire and blasphemy, I can't make it anymore simple then that...

In terms of musicianship, 'Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult' doesn't stick to aging staples of the genre. The album opens with 'Unholy Magic Attack' which is a scathing assault of blasts and chorded tremelo picking early on, before fluctuating into a windfall of dissonant arpeggation and machine-gun like double-bassing. 'Journey to Infernukeorreka', with a driving bass/snare/bass drumming of almost punk-like quality, coupled with furious chordal downpicking (primarily fifths), is so unbelievably simple but so effective that it puts to shame a lot of bands who feel the need to play a mile a minute and try to bolster their sounds using artificial synth. But this isn't all about being heavy and powerful black metal, you have tracks like 'Solitary Death in Nocturnal Woodlands' and 'Hail the Cult' that are often simple, heavily distorted arpeggios and single note sequences that bleed together to create waves of dissonance coupled with the minimalist vocal approach and rather simple drumming that pushes the guitar channel to the front of the mix. I don't think it's wrong to say that those two particular tracks have the dream like quality of older Burzum material.

In closing, this is a gem, through and through. It's one of the very few black metal releases plays well from start to finish, and always offers something to return to. It's varied and well-written to a point where a nine minute song doesn't induce a yawn and make you want to jump ahead to the next track. Inquisition hit the nail on the head, and delivered a truly original and unique listening experience, and for that...a mighty hail!

This record is a departure from the thrashy styles of both 'Anxious Death' and 'Forever Under' and delves deep into the womb of blackmetal, however I.T.I.R.O.T.A.C. has a truely unique approach to the established genre. In terms of influences, I guess bands such as: Burzum, Bathory and early Rotting Christ come to mind, but I don't really see Inquisition as a band one can compare very easily.

The guitar sound on this album is really deep and bassy, yet with just the right amount of treble to balance the mix, creating a heavy oppressive atmosphere without weakening the more intricate, dissonant guitar parts.

One thing that really grabbed me about this record was the trace inducing effect of the voice and riffs, a clear example can be heard the song 'Those of the night', which opens with an incredible droning riff and monotone, macabre vocals.

As well as these trance like elements, Inquisition also use some melancholic/ melodic parts which add a kind of dream-like (or should I say nightmare-like) ambiance to the record which works very well in contrast. There are even folk elements on this record for example: 'The Initiation', featuring an acoustic guitar motif, which really evokes an enchanting ceremonial atmosphere and fits the song title perfectly.

The lyrics here aren't mind blowing, but to me they seem like very personal ideas/experiences to the band members themselves, and not to necesarily to be understood by everyone. But just the music and the voice alone really capture the ritualistic/ satanic atmosphere they are aiming for: you can just tell these guys aren't faking it, the presence of occult influence is certainly obvious on this record.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Inquisition are refreshingly varied in tempo, not constant blast, blast, blast type stuff, that has become fairly monotonous and predictable in blackmetal especially. The percussion is very well thought out, with necesary pauses here and there, adding more impact to many of the riffs.

I was actually lucky enough to catch Inquisition in London earlier this year, and it was incredible. Despite being a two piece, it sounded as if there was a whole band on stage! Dagon is an absolute genius for coming up with such an amazing guitar sound. Any one who's seen them will know what i'm talking about.

Hail Dagon! Hail Incubus! Hail Inquisition!

Well, this is only the second time I've heard this, and already it has become one of my newest favourites (among a great many others, of course!). I think this is an absolutely excellent recording, for its perfect mixture of now heavy and grooving, now dark and brooding riffing, for its unique ingenuity, and for its evil and frighteningly morose vocal style, which I might add is one of the most original vocal attempts I've heard. The overall atmosphere is one of cold and unremorseful evil, and the lyrics (which are often decipherable) compliment this with a continued theme of joining the great dark cult and experiencing the journey to servitude under Satan's favour. The music isn't just great riffs put together into songs, nor is it just a bunch of really great songs with their own special character, but it also progresses as time goes on to become increasingly depressive and ethereal in its atmosphere, which is an intangible element that I really like about this album. Apparently this band performs live, and I imagine their concert would be a mightily overpowering experience... in fact, I have spoken to someone who's had that experience, and according to him it IS that good. There is one thing I still want to find out, though... that is, what film did they take those samples from?!


A.K. Spatilomantis
Jan 08, 2003

Edit: by now I have had the chance to see Inquisition play live, and that was a powerful and overwhelmingly dark and depressive experience!