Cult of Erinyes / Zifir – Split (2012)

Arriving from Belgium’s Tanquam Aegri Somnia label, today we have a split release of two crushing Black Metal bands: Cult of Erinyes (Belgium) and Zifir (Turkey). Featuring 30 minutes of music this release does a great job in showcasing both bands monstrous sound and punishing take on the genre. We love split releases that demonstrate the talents of bands just enough to make you interested in them and start looking for their albums, and this is one of those well balance split releases.

The three-piece Cult of Erinyes opens the release with the dissonant “Teutoburger Wald”, a 6 minute devastating track that features a very powerful guitar-driven atmosphere. Within the band’s cavernous sound, the blasting drums and pounding bass guitar nicely keep things interesting while the very typical vocals round-up the equation. After pummeling through the second track “The Eschatologist”, the band delivers their best song of the split release: “Hermintry”. Their last track makes a lasting impression thanks to its crushing guitar work and hellish vocals.

With a less intense and more ritualistic approach to Black Metal, Zifir opens with “Kafir/Heathen” a nice track that immediately establishes that you are listening to a completely different band. Some of the atmospheric elements (clean vocals) add a very eerie vibe to the music. The rawness of songs like “War” amd “Sole Wrong” make this band be quite effective in delivering an unaltered traditional BM sound, but some of the drumming is kind of questionable (like the ‘beats’ on “Sale Wrong”). Closing with the noise/drone “Shroud”, the band has made an interesting impact with their unique sound.

Overall, this split release gets the job done of promoting both bands with killer songs, but it also makes the listener go looking for more. Both Cult of Erinyes and Zifir are pretty solid bands that have quite unique takes on Black Metal and this release makes it quite clear. If you like your BM a bit out of the norm, but not going bat shit crazy, look no further and pick up a copy of this gem.

Release: December 25th, 2012

Genre: Modern Metal / Groove/Sludge Metal

Country: Belgium / Turkey