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Blasphemous > Ripping Alive Christ > Reviews
Blasphemous - Ripping Alive Christ

There are two good songs… - 60%

oneyoudontknow, November 8th, 2007

…, but the band could use a better environment for recording their music.

Is the raw sound a particular phenomenon of the Black Metal scene or exist similar trends in other genres of the metal scene as well? Whatever the appropriate answer to this question may be, the likeliness to find band with a raw and dirty sound is quite good in the Black Metal scene nowadays; especially in the so-called underground. Blasphemous from Poland is one another band of this sub-genre and Ripping Christ Alive is their second demo.

A characteristic of the Blasphemous’s music is the absence of bass. Seldom can the bass-drum and hardly can the bass-guitar be heard on the entire demo; they just simply vanished completely and they presence can be recognized randomly. As the snares and cymbals are also mixed in the background to a good deal, dominating are merely the guitars and the (croaking) vocals. A lot of bands suffer from a bad mix or production and therefore it is an often prevalent facet of underground releases, but in the case of Blasphemous from Poland other aspects prevent any opportunity to meliorate the impact of this hampering element.

The songs lack of quality and the strange way in which the vocals are used and the lyrics expressed, is not really optimal and there is a good deal of room for improvement existent. Especially the title track is a negative example how too much of lyrics can destroy an entire song. Less would be better or writing a longer song, while using the same amount of lyrical content; whereby it would be distributed more adequate over the whole length; it should furthermore be added that this particular track is the shortest one of the whole album, as most of the others have at least the double of length. Despite the impact the vocalist has on the music, the riffs which have been used while composing the songs sometimes too bland. They are neat, but not really chilling or would motivate someone to listen to it in the long run. Yet especially the last and longest track on the demo sheds some light on what the band is capable of. The way in which the riffs are used has something hypnotic and even though the whole (!) drums nearly vanish over the dominance of the guitars, the song is interesting and really enjoyable. It is very repetitive in its approach and monotonous in terms of the arrangements, but perhaps this is the one last ounce necessary for a proper atmosphere.

In comparison to the rest of the album, the last one is also written differently. Most of the other tracks use variation and tempi and some nice and catchy riffs, but the latter does appear too seldom. The band does not suck at why they do, but it is also a good deal away from being good. Especially the vocalist has in the current situation a negative impact on the music. The way he is croaking is not bad, but by switching into some kind of ‘telling’ the lyrics he looses the ability to create a dark atmosphere through his voice.

It is a demo and the genre the band plays in is Raw Black Metal, therefore the listener can expect harsh and noisy music. This is what is being played on their second demo and it is not bad; I have heard worse. A better production would draw the attention away from the dominance of the guitars and towards the greater spectrum of sounds that exist … somewhere in the background. Nice to listen to, but nothing more.

Recommended tracks: Flamewings, Stream from Shadows