Blood Chalice – Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction (2018)

Unleashing one of the rawest and most pummeling releases of this young 2018, today we have Finland’s Blood Chalice and their debut full-length “Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction”. As a joint release from Regain Records and Helter Skelter, we get 27 minutes of lo-fi bestial devastation in the shape of ten tracks. For the fans of intense Death/Black Metal, this release will keep head banging from start to finish.

Opening with the violent “The Unholy Angel of All”, the band sets a very intense pace and a ravaging sound that is quite effective for the genre. The punishing vocals deliver an unholy experience as they resonate on killer tracks like “The Passage” and the moody “Coven”. We particularly enjoy the crunchy riffing on “The Four”, a song that expertly changes tempos and pummels the listener when they least expect it.

The band never slows down as the blast through hard-hitting (and yet melodic) songs like “The Conjuration of the Fire God”, “Baptized with Blood” and “Confession”. The drumming in this release is quite hellish as it perfectly captures the foulness of the band’s sound and keeps thing going at 1000 miles per hour. The band’s ability to craft short and powerful tracks is pretty solid, as almost no song is over 2 minutes, but yet you feel exhausted and demoralized after each track.

Closing with the depraved atmospherics of “Bestial Unification”, we are left quite impressed with the band’s incisive and crushing sound. If you are looking for lo-fi brilliance and all-out war, “Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction” is definitely the release for you.

Label: Helter Skelter/ Regain Records

Release: February 19th, 2018

Genre: Black/Death Metal

Country: Finland