The Last Supper

This is my first time ever listening to Belphegor and I believe this is a very strong start. The album is packed with brutal moments, with a mix of both death metal vocals as well as shrieking black metal screams. I've seen this album surface around different groups of friends when talked about the band and it's always been such a sick cover. To me the vocals on this album could sometimes be like that of other brutal death metal bands such as Dying Fetus. That's what the delivery reminds me of most.

Tracks like "A Funeral Without A Cry" give an almost grind core aspect to the album with the blast beats, but then slows down the tempo with chilling synths, feeling evil. This song and "Impalement Without Mercy" alone fit so well with the album cover that we're given. Impalement's instrumentation in some parts of the song give off an almost Children of Bodom feel to this album. Even though it seems very random as this song is pretty brutal the rest of the way, it doesn't feel like it's out of nowhere or used too much.

"The Rapture Of Cremation" has to be my favorite song off this record. I'm a sucker for all of the bells chiming as well as the voices echoing and just giving us the vibe that we're in a graveyard or something similar. The effects done on his voice, again, are just some of the best I've heard on the album. Along with this the riff is very catchy and in a way feels like chugging. This is one of the songs I think everybody has to listen to from this album.

The synths, sound effects, voice effects and all around production of this album feels top tier. It all sounds great and like this band has already been around for a long time before this. The band already feels like they've had a few hits before this record, which is why it's so surprising hearing this is a debut album. The overall feel in songs like "The Rapture Of Cremation" and "In Remembrance Of Hate and Sorrow" both give me this chilling atmosphere I could only relate to Autopsy in some ways. They both remind me of the death-doom greatness of that band. Though that's not all they can do since they also feature some slamming and grinding riffs as well. This album is worth the listen and hype.

When it comes to the mix of black metal and death metal, no band is more punishing and unforgiving than Belphegor. While I personally see them more black metal-leaning when taking into account of their general discography, their unique mix of black and death metal is a lot more extreme than your typical blackened death metal band, but also not extreme enough to be in the war metal realms. While most of their releases are great, none of them have been able to reach the craziness as their debut album "The Last Supper". From the brutal instrumentals to the agonizing vocals, there's just so much to love here.

Starting off with the instruments, we jump straight into the madness with the first track "The Last Supper". The guitars sound raw and loud, and they take up much of the mix. However, the composition of the riffs is unique as it combines the rawness of black metal with the deep brutal sounds of death metal, which is mixed nicely and executed well. The drums aren't any better, as they're just as wild with its blastbeats and pounding snares. Being that the guitars are already chaotic, the drums flow well with them and maintains a consistent beat pattern that keeps the listener on edge. Even the bass is good, as its deep sound provides a thick and firm foundation in the track. With all of this combined, the overall atmosphere here is filled with nothing but pure chaos and hatred, which I absolutely love. "The Last Supper" is an obvious highlight, but other fantastic tracks are "A Funeral Without a Cry", "Impalement Without Mercy", and "D.I.E. (Drowned in Excrements)". The only problem with the instrumentals are in the final track, which is a cover for Betrayer's Kruzifixion. It's not terrible, but it does sound noticeably different, and the shift between the previous track is a bit jarring for first-time listeners. Otherwise, the instruments don't hold back in their aggressiveness, and its blend of black and death metal elements have a fantastic execution.

The vocals are also just as crazy. Maxx was a brief member in Belphegor, and he was only involved in the debut album as well as the previous demo and EP before leaving. However, the vocal performance he left behind here is amazing. His vocals have a mix of the deep growls and gurgles of death metal and the shrieks of black metal, which are both done really well. A good example of this would be in the track "Engulfed in Eternal Frost". The track is just as intense as the other songs, and Maxx reflects this well with growls. These growls flow well with the buzzing guitars and blasting drums, and the shrieks would only further enhance the maddening personality he has. And in some tracks like "The Rapture of Cremation", Maxx extends his shrieking more to make him sound more bestial, which are also executed well. Whether it be the deep gurgles or the high-pitched shrieking, Maxx does both of those styles with great skill, and it has me wondering how his vocals would've progressed had he stayed in the band.

Even the lyrics are great. There's not a whole lot of lyrics written on here, so much of it is mysterious. However, the few lyrics that are available are great. Take the track "March of the Dead" for example, where this verse quotes:

Blessed by the sign of evil
Spirits of sins
Mutilated on the cross
Burning Altars Slaughtered Christians
Waiting for the Abyss
Distort theirs Souls

This verse is about the Christians being killed in ritualistic ways. It has a basic style in terms of the writing itself, but the tone here is very dark and evil, and with some certain descriptions, it makes this whole ordeal sound brutal and intense. Not only that, but these lyrics also match the instruments and vocals well. With the chaotic atmosphere of the instruments and the painful shrieks and growls of Maxx, there is only more hatred and desecration added into the lyrics. Even though the songwriting is basic, it does remain effective in telling some blasphemous stories.

With all of these reasons, it's easy to see why "The Last Supper" remains one of my favorite album from Belphegor. The instruments punish you with blastbeats and black/death metal riffs throughout the tracks, Maxx's vocals sound harsh and extreme, and the simple lyrics convey a disturbing picture of anti-religion. Starting with their next album "Blutsabbath", they will begin to include more black metal elements, but nevertheless, this debut of theirs still remains iconic for its perfect mix of black metal and death metal.

I confess I'm an awfully picky eater when it comes to black metal. I'm like that friend you dread taking out to eat, because you know he'll scour over the Burger King menu with a sullen grimace, eventually settling for chicken nuggets, but then prods at them, carefully peels all the skin off, and then complains that his processed lumps of greasy chicken ass have gone cold. And the entire time you're picturing yourself headbutting him from across the table. But every now and again, he'll surprise you; you'll see him eating pickled squid in wasabi paste and absolutely loving it. I'm that friend, and Belphegor is that delicious calamari. And with The Last Supper's cover art in mind, I'll now abstain from any further food metaphors.

Perhaps I'm so enthused with The Last Supper because it's definition of black metal is fairly ambigious. 'Krucifixion' as well as their famous reimagining of 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', for instance, are both 100% death metal; a denomination earned predominantly by vocalist Maxx's chasmal gutturals that somehow sink even lower than the trenchant riffs. The former is much the same, as this track dates back to Belphegor's days as Betrayer. These were simpler times; soon after The Last Supper was released, I think Hellmuth was already itching to explore more adventurous paths with Belphegor. Maxx endeavors for compromise, switching his vocal chords from growls to shrieks with frightening efficiency in tracks like 'March of the Dead'. This unique selling point was sadly in vain, as The Last Supper would be Maxx's first and last full-length appearance.

On the bright side, the occupied mic allowed Hellmuth to focus all his attention on forging riffs with molten steel and hellfire. Similar to the vocals themselves, guitars command a nightmarish coalition of death and black metal, with tracks like 'The Rapture of Cremation' and 'Engulfed in Eternal Frost' showcasing both ghoulish Gorgoroth harmonics and Obituary bloodlust. The mixture is surprisingly effective, and evocative of the hellish chainsaw symphonies Cross the Styx and Insane Sickness by Sinister and Tyrant Trooper, respectively. This, together with the jackhammer blastbeats, makes The Last Supper an unnervingly strident rhetoric not for the faint of heart. Just in case the cover-art left you with any doubt.

Samey songwriting and a subpar production are among the two most common criticisms The Last Supper receives, and I take exception to both of them. The production bares a bleak and rusted aspect without sounding overly tinny. Its lack of technical interference is frankly amazing; everything sounds meaty and visceral without being buried beneath a cavernous reverb. The samey songwriting is admittedly harder to argue against. Nearly every track follows a set pattern with a similar tempo, and the problem is only magnified under the lens of Belphegor's later output. However its eccentric blend of death and black metal assuages this problem for me.

And thus the debut album and the odd man out in Belphegor's discography is still one of my favorites. For better or ill, most of the band's death metal sensibilities would be shed by the time Blutsabbath and Necrodaemon Terrorsathan emerged. So if your favorite Necrophobic album is The Nocturnal Silence, or your favorite Darkthrone album is Soulside Journey, give The Last Supper a try. And um, if that is the case? Might be a good idea to keep that just between us.

Unbelievable how quickly the time passed away... Almost two decades ago I’ve read an interview with – then unknown – Austrian band called Belphegor in Metal Side Mag. Back then, I think it was in 1995, I never heard of them before, but soon later I managed to get their second and third albums… and now so many years later Belphegor is a well know extreme death / black metal beast, with several better or worse, but all solid albums, signed to a major record label, with performances on many tours and big festivals… Damn, who would think that it will all turn out this way? I can’t call myself the biggest Belphegor maniac, although I do like this band, I have most of their albums and most of them are truly good. But to be honest, my favourites from their discography are the albums from the pre-Nuclear Blast era… such as this early piece of blasphemous noise “The Last Supper” originally released in 1995 by Lethal Records. Sadly I never had a chance to get a first press CD, but at least I have the 1999 Last Episode re-issue which is cool, because it has some bonus tracks. What I don’t like about this version is that it doesn’t have the original artwork, which was so bloody cool… but well, at least it contains the classic “Obscure and Deep” EP plus some more songs (mainly covers). For them, it is worth to have this version as well.

I am really fascinated that already on the first album Belphegor had their own, characteristic style. From the very first notes you can really hear it is Belphegor, with their specific riffing, relentless, throat-cutting guitar work, mostly fast tempos, utter violence and aggression and finally with the blasphemous lyrics and possessed vocals of Helmuth! Arrghh, and I must not forget about the diabolic atmosphere of their music! Yes, this is totally satanic, mad, possessed and sacrilegious metal and Belphegor always creates this blood freezing, eerie an evil atmosphere, which I love totally. It’s not a common black / death metal, but as I said Belphegor is very characteristic, with these powerful, razor sharp and aggressive riffs, very fast pace, but also with some slower, more catchy songs, where there’s always a memorable chorus part… Of course some people say that Belphegor sometimes eats its own tail and repeats the same patterns too often, some songs are copies of some other… well, I can see what these opinions are based on, but it doesn’t change the fact that this music is still damn good. And “The Last Supper” belongs to the best albums of Belphegor I suppose, even if the sound here is the most vicious and harsh and that the band’s best songs and riffs are yet to come on the future albums. But damn, listen to such tracks as “Impalement Without Mercy”, “March of the Dead”, “The Last Supper” or “D.I.E. (Drowned in Excrements)” – aren’t they fantastic? OK, one or two other songs are maybe not quite as good, but as overall I think that this is very good album indeed.

I mentioned that Last Episode version of “The Last Supper” contains some bonus tracks… and well, the first one is “Krucifixion” cover of pre-Belphegor band called Betrayer. And it is quite raw, kind of archaic sounding pure death metal, nothing majorly interesting, far from the vicious and blasphemous style of Belphegor. The song is mediocre, the production is also not the best… so I don’t like it too much. Then there’s the excellent “Obscure and Deep” EP, which is awesome I think. Finally the Black Sabbath cover is something I would rather forget, as it sounds crap in my opinion, but that Sodom cover of “Outbreak of Evil” is not so bad at all. All in all I think that “The Last Supper” is a very good album, if you like harsh and fast, blasphemous death / black metal then you know Belphegor and I don’t have to recommend it anymore.

Standout tracks: “Impalement Without Mercy”, “March of the Dead”, “The Last Supper”
Final rate: 75/100

"The Last Supper," was the album that got me into Belphegor, and ever since I first heard it, I've been a huge fan of the Austrian blackened death metal band. While it isn't as good as their later releases, it's still definitely worth listening too.

The style presented on their debut is much closer to black metal than later albums like "Goatreich-Fleshcult," or "Bondage Goat Zombie." Yet at the same time, the guitar playing is much heavier than later Belphegor albums would be. For the most part, Helmuth and Sigurd play a fast, thrash metal-esque guitar riffs with some of the melody that would be expanded upon later in their career. The album boasts several guitar solos, like on "Drowned in Excrements," "Bloodbath in Paradise, Pt. Two," and on the album’s title track, all of which are good. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the guitars on "The Last Supper," the songwriting is very repetitive.

The drums, though good, essentially play the same blast beat during the whole album, with little variation as well. One thing that does require mention is the occasional use of keyboards on the album. They are present briefly on "Impalement Without Mercy," where they play a few chords at certain points on the song. They're also on "March of the Dead," during the last minute or so. However, they aren't expanded on, and rarely make an appearance.

My favorite part of the album however, is Helmuth's vocals. The style that Helmuth uses here is much harsher and extreme sounding than the more black metal sounding one that he would later adopt. His vocal's are more death metal sounding, and he uses lower, guttural growls. Unfortunately, this is a style that he no longer uses.

Despite its strong points, "The Last Supper" suffers from many of the afflictions that a debut album has. Among these are bad production and repetitive songwriting. The production is the typical low quality you would expect on a first release, but on the track "Kruzifixion," the production goes from bad to simply awful, despite the fact that "Kruzifixion" is an excellent song.

"The Last Supper" is a good debut, but not quite as good as the later albums that Belphegor would produce.

What Belphegor does on the Last Supper is play thrashy and slaughtering extreme metal, which always makes me think if there was someone who loved classic type metal but couldn’t get into black or death metal, the Last Supper would be one extreme metal album he might really dig.

The Last Supper is full of ominous black metal riffing supported by a ton of fast and unrelenting drumming and two different vocals used interchangeably. Very energetic. BUT it would get pretty old after a while if that’s all there was. Behold, drawn-out melodic sections, rhythmic and variable drumming, a few atmospheric intermissions, even guitar solos that could’ve easily been snagged from some 80’s thrash anthem. Oh god, how the solos scratch me where it itches. The Last Supper is almost always an “upper,” with just enough downtime to make it interesting instead of a nonstop explosion, just enough atmospheric effects to spice it up without taking attention away from the aggression, and just enough much needed rhythmic sections between the extreme metal pummelmania to solidify these songs into, well songs, instead of a series of indistinguishable and fast riffs. The diverse vocal styles also help make this album more exciting. Constantly shifting between death metal growls and black metal shrieks is almost always a great touch (see: Arkhon Infaustus) and let’s you know: yes this band is crazy. Don’t fuck with Belphegor; they will not only torture you in the name of satan but probably devour your mangled carcass afterwards.

The most ferocious/ soul-bearing/ incredible album ever? Nah, not even close. Anything any seasoned fan of extreme metal hasn’t already heard? Doubtful. The most brilliant yet unacknowledged musical talents in all of metal?? That neither. Just some good fucking metal. The Last Supper is a solid and no-frills piece of black and death metal that puts forth plenty of satanic zeal without compromising its viciousness in the name of metal. It’s good black metal, it’s good death metal, it’s just good metal. And unlike the albums that purportedly do something new and inconceivable and blow everyone’s mind for two seconds, this one never gets washed out and expendable. So maybe it’s a bit of a classic after all.

I was expecting a totally different Belphegor on this release, but instead we get the same Belphegor signature sound from the start. Catchy melodies, low death grunts, shrieked vocals, mid paced blast beats, etc. You can hear some cannibal corpse influences in the low growling here (Butchered At Birth era), and shrieked vocals reminiscent of Kreator (Pleasure To Kill era). The songs are catchy and memorable, especially for their debut album. Right from the start, this album slays. At times, the songs can be a straight up American death metal onslaught, then black metal atmospheres at times (The end of March of the Death especially), also some keyboards place tastefully to build up the atmosphere, some doom-like passages here and there, and at times, grindcore can rear its head (the verse of The Last Supper, for example).

The songs are brimming with energy and the band sounds very inspired, which makes this release a lot more memorable and great to play. My only complaints is that the bass is kind of low in the mix (Like most Metal bands), but you can still hear it at times, or if you carefully listen you can hear it, and the drums are somewhat low in the mix, but other than that, a great album by Belphegor. I would get the re-release for the demo tracks to hear what Belphegor sounded like before this album was released, and even then, they still showed how great they were, and the covers Outbreak of Evil originally by Sodom, which is very good, having a much more grind feel and a great cover. Another cover Sabbath Bloody Sabbath originally by Black Sabbath is also very well done and interesting to have a death metal flavor to it. The production is raw and provides a much more intense atmosphere to the music, and is well done.

My personal favorites off this album is the title track, Impalement Without Mercy, Engulfed In Eternal Frost (The most black metal oriented track here), and Drown In Excrement, but ALL of the songs here are very good. Definitely get the re-release, I cant decide which Belphegor album is better because they are ALL very good. I recommend it to Belphegor fans who haven't this album in general, and blackened death metal fans in general as well.

Belphegor released this album in 1995 on Lethal Records and no one noticed. Those that wanted it later could not find it so Last Episode was gracious to re-release it in 1999 complete with six bonus tracks. Mercenary Musik is now re-releasing the original version, according to their web site, with all art work restored. They accompany the advertisement with the cover art depicting Christ and his disciples eating a bloody human last supper. That is indeed the centerfold from the original release, but what about the cover art of the sliced up baby, or the women with child on the cover sheet, or the bloodthirsty photos? What I got from Mercenary seems to be a re-release of the re-release, not of the original. Confused yet? I pulled out my Last Episode version and compared it to the new one. Identical, all the bonus tracks are there as well as the same artwork. The only difference is that the parental advisory explicit lyrics and explicit artwork stamps on the cover have been removed. I am curious, why re-release an exact copy of a disc still readily available?

The bonus tracks include three tracks from 1994’s 7 inch including a cover of “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” and three tracks newly recorded in 1998, including an “outbreak of Evil” cover and a track that later appeared on Necrodemon Terrorsathan called “Diabolical Possession.” The dominant vocal style is very low guttural grunts American death style with plenty of screamed vocals reminiscent of early Kreator. The music is very heavy and brutal guitars with aggressive drumming. As with most American style death, the songs tend to blend together, with memorable pieces here and there throughout the album, but without individual uniqueness for each song.

The album taken as a whole entity is strong, with memorable moments being “The Rapture of Cremation” and “Engulfed in Eternal Frost,” the former for its slow passages the later for its lightening fast backbone, both equally well written. My favorite song, “Kruzifixion” is a 1994 version of 1991’s demo’s title track and has an early Celtic Frost feel. It is also the song with the most black metal elements. So, what’s the verdict? It does not matter which version you get, just get one of them.

Originally written for http://teethofthedivine.com

Belphegor are in the first league of extreme metal at this time, I think that there’s no doubt about that. But how about their beginnings? The Last Supper is their first long-playing album recorded in 1994, and I have to admit that it was quite decent start for these Austrians. I will skip some comments on the standard cheesy provocative image (OK, I know it belongs to this genre and especially to Belphegor) and I’ll push play, and….

…Wow! From the first tones you can here that Belphegor do not know any compromise. Mostly death-metal oriented music with black-metal and sometimes even grindcore elements blows you away with its intensity and brutality. Predominant blast-beats are alternating with mid- or slow tempos, heavy and distorted death metal riffs live in harmony with black metal melodies, vocalist uses well both growling and BM-like shrieking. The overall atmosphere of the record is (also thanks to somehow strange dirty yet well readable sound) quite sick, which is supported by minimal but effective use of keyboards. The album flows all the time in the same vein – I mean there is no huge variety between individual tracks (no entirely slow song, no important diversity in feeling or structure), which could be taken as a minus, however as the songs themselves are quite well-structured with enough motives, tempo-breaks, memorable riffs and melodies, the record does not get monotonous or boring. Another think to point out are quite solid instrumental skills of all musicians that underline the huge potential of this band even in its early years.

So finally, why I give only 78%? Yes, it is true that I am very impressed by this record, but still – it is debut, and as a debut it suffers from many “diseases” to some extent – whereas it is weaker production, some imperfections in song-structure or instrumental skills…etc. (compare it with later Belphegor’s albums and you will understand). However despite it is not perfect, it was really promising first step for the band and I have to highly recommend it to anyone interested in this kind of music. After 12 years it has not lost anything of its charm and you will be satisfied.