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Ancient Rites > Blasfemia eternal > Reviews
Ancient Rites - Blasfemia eternal

Unpretentious - 75%

Felix 1666, July 3rd, 2015
Written based on this version: 1996, CD, Mascot Records

Not only because of the chronology, Ancient Rites sophomore album was located at the interface between their black metallic debut and the opulent "Fatherland". "Blasfemia Eternal" did not lack of diabolic guitar lines and hammering drums, but it also rarely revealed less harsh tones, for example during the powerful yet melancholic "(Het verdronken land von) Saeftinge". However, the band had not been interested in creating a metal operetta. The stormy sequences gained the upper hand and one cannot compare this album with their later outputs such as "Dim Carcosa" or "Rubicon". Ancient Rites had recorded matured compositions without neglecting the will to destroy. The title track was just an intro that could be understood as the calm before the storm. The first regular track, "Total Misanthropia", broke the silence in a matter of seconds. It brought new fodder for the black metal maniacs that appreciated the violent debut of the band, in particular songs like the straight "Death Messiah".

Already "Total Misanthropia" revealed that the sound of the full-length did not lack of currishness. In terms of the production, "Blasfemia Eternal" raged as furious as its predecessor. Its aura was definitely that of an underground production. This does not mean that the album was amateurishly produced, maybe with an overdose of roughness and a lack of momentum. But it was dominated by the guitars while almost any type of "unusual" instrumentation did not come into play. The Belgians did not focus on obscure song patterns, but the fairly huge amount of breaks led to a certain bulkiness. It followed that mainstream metal maniacs did not feel the urgent need to dive into the music. They missed - among other things - the voice of Gunter Theys. It fluctuated between hostility and nastiness. Unfortunately, Theys was not able to score with special features. Solid is probably the word that describes his vocal performance in an almost perfect manner.

Admittedly, the album did not distinguish itself by an above-average number of unforgettable tracks. It had other advantages. The three guys proved their youthful impetuosity while they offered simultaneously an unpretentious and logically configured full-length. Each and every song reached a good level. The tunes had an appropriate number of tempo changes, the solos combined structure and improvisation and the musicians did not need to fear technically demanding challenges. Inter alia because of the interesting lyrics, there was no doubt that the band had worked carefully while creating the songs. Ancient Rites were inspired by classical literature, historical topics and religious injustices. Due to the qualitative balance of the pieces, it is not easy to recommend a single track in order to check the album. But I guess that the fast-paced, diversified and grounded "Garden of Delights (EVA)", arranged with howling guitars and short blast beat eruptions, conveys a first impression of "Blasfemia Eternal".

The next batch - 73%

Byrgan, August 28th, 2010

This is Ancient Rites evolving and experimenting again with their take on extreme metal. With "Blasfemia Eternal" they're still mixing techniques from black and death metal genres—at times they pound their instruments with weighted savageness, and at other moments this uses higher tones and a mood centered route.

The production got a little louder with certain instruments getting pushed more up front. This still has some effects, so not everything's breathing in your face. For instance, the vocals possess this kind of encompassing projection and essentially their sound seems to spread out so not every syllable is heard with direct clarity. Unfortunately, the drums have moments of actually sounding a little worse off than the last. Especially—of all areas, mind you—on the beginning of the opening song, it is so processed and mechanical that I'm sure it would have made one of those fancy Scandinavian studios, like Abyss, enamored with the amount of artificial quality coming from the triggers. That's good friend, you made it more like computer. Go Vikings! And it just gets worse later: On "Fatherland" when using those synthetic kick drums, I can mentally picture a metal band rehearsing without drummer right next to a line of impatient glue-on nail wearers. Clickety, click, click, clickety click...stop that damn noise.

The vocals changed up from demonic growls on the last to a raspy, croaky tone. They at least sound more in the way of characteristically human with underlying bouts of emotion, as the vocal processor used on the EP and debut is gone. At certain times they can be whispered or more in the way of discernible with the capability of understanding the lyrics without the actual lyric book. The bass lines specifically on the track "Epebos Aionia" make these sudden "burps" above the level of the guitar. It sounds like a neat little feature that has one particular note stick out even more so when joining in on the ending fill. The guitars play more characteristic black metal riffing than the last. Along the lines of what the Greek outfit Thou Art Lord used in their early days, with Ancient Rites themselves adding more higher placed tremolo oriented rhythms, though not in the way of sounding melodic, but at times can be extended or somewhat repetitious for generating a mood. Actually, the tongue-twister of a song "(Het Verdronken Land Van) Saeftinge" has some live flute sections during metal music playing that sound so mystical, epic in proportion and Greek inspired, that I'm sure Rotting Christ and crew made up a large stamp specifically for their approval. This also tosses in some bullying riffs that are thick and weighted, containing chugging and certain styles that point a gory finger to death metal. That part of their song writing keeps this recording in demand, and with the other side pulling you closer and closer to its looming shade.

"Blasfemia Eternal" does have its moments with each song. Though this is Ancient Rites experimenting and attempting to take up their own particular sound as a band and some things don't always line up or work entirely to their benefit. Specifically the drum sound is a shame here because it has moments that can set the music back from fuller potential, such as being more in the way of captivating those dark emotions in their song writing with a natural delivery and feeling. However, it can vary per song: at times it can sound like a standard and precise clicking noise to actually sounding mean, like a rapidly moving flat tire or even resembling machine gun shooting. They have a few forced pure chugging sections that might pop up in a few areas and are usually accompanied by some rapid double bass pounding. This is somewhat different than the last, where they were more suited to balancing out palm mutes and having more galloping kick drum patterns. On the other hand, they work up to a blast beat during a few areas and it can definitely catch your neck by surprise. Essentially by having them only an occasional commodity helps enforce their magnitude. When the keyboards are subtly played or worked up to, they can be an enhancing feature. Such as "Total Misanthropia" having a small break where a few choir effects are used, which gives the later portion of the song greater force when they're played more continuously. However, both of the tracks "Blood of Christ" and "Vae Victis" instantly start out with keyboards while the rest of the music plays along side. It feels sort of forced and almost there for the sake of it than an aiding addition. It's almost like reading an epic story, but opening up a page right smack in the middle of it.

This release combines attributes from different genres, which I found causes the whole recording to evolve much quicker than if this was completely centered on the characteristics they use from the black metal side and going for a strict atmosphere. So, by balancing out the heavier or more aggressive oriented structures is what really causes this to continually shift and expand on more ideas within a song. That much you can count on this release for—it gives you a number of characteristics and modes within a certain jam-packed time frame. Even the acoustic guitar intro is a quickie. This isn't a complete no non-sense recording, but instead the band capitalized on a strong point of their's with the capability of switching it up enough to not get stuck or stall, or at least for very long if they do. Like it could have been potentially worse if they went more with this area in a song, or even better if they extended that other part. Even though not everything comes off as executed in a thoroughly decisive manner, it is still recommendable, especially for this last feature.