Cult of Erinyes – Blessed Extinction (2013)

Hailing from Belgium, today we have the Cult of Erinyes horde and their sophomore full-length release “Blessed Extinction”. Filled with 43 minutes of hateful and chaotic Black Metal, this band has greatly improved over their debut release “A Place to Call My Unknown”. With some Avant-garde touches, this band creates epic Black Metal tunes with a knack for bizarre atmospheric passages.

Chaos instantly ensues with the crushing “From the Shattered Skies” and its dissonant guitars. The song structure is quite convoluted, creating an excellent chaotic feeling while retaining a good dose of melodic riffs. With its clean vocals this song and the album in general, gives that Code-like vibe that fans of Avant-Black Metal are always looking for. The relentless “Jibaku” keeps up a high level of intensity thanks to brutal drumming and inhuman vocals that send chills down the listener’s spine.

The band continues to ravage your ears with crushing tracks like “Unspoiled Beauty”, the chilling “Dissolve into the Stars”, and Borknagar-esque “Sunken Cities”. The experimentation we loved in this release includes all the odd atmospheric passages placed within the songs and the completely crazy “Bipolar”, a very unsettling atmospheric piece. Our favorite track is the demolishing “The Vlasov Notes” with a guest appearance of Phorgath of Enthroned. This particular track has a very appealing ritualistic feeling to it and crushing vocal lines.

As “Blessed Extinction” draws its completion, we are left with a great satisfaction to hear that Cult of Erinyes has taken their sound to a completely new level. The band’s Black Metal music is far from ordinary and thanks to its crushing atmosphere, it is also one of the best nowadays. If you are looking for something that is brutal and punishing as Gorgoroth, Immortal, etc., but with a little Arcturus/Borknagar/Code kick to it, look no further and pick up a copy of this excellent release.

Label: Code666 Records

Release: October 28th, 2013

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Belgium