Black Death Cult - Devil's Paradise - CD

An otherwise-new entity hailing from Canada, BLACK DEATH CULT are a mysterious quintet which includes one Rephaim Spectre, AKA Tim Grieco of Antediluvian and, more recently, live member of Revenge. However, BLACK DEATH CULT is its own entity altogether, and one way, WAY beyond most nowadays black/death...

A bolt from the blue (or deepest black), Devil's Paradise is BLACK DEATH CULT's debut recording: a full-length comprising nine foul hymns in 51 minutes. It was originally released on double-LP vinyl format during the autumn of 2019, but now HELLS HEADBANGERS steps forward to unleash this bewitching sonic abomination to the masses on CD format.

Coated in a glistening-yet-grimy sheen of fullmoon synths, Devil's Paradise most definitely is BLACK METAL of a very old and very unorthodox constitution. Its rhythms are hammering and strident and yet evoking a wildness that borders on delirium. BLACK DEATH CULT wield their instruments as weapons and wands alike, so gutted is their physicality and ghastly their atmosphere. Songs likewise take devilish detours, downshifting and accelerating at will, always keeping the listener in thrall but walking a terror-inducing line of tension. Vocals are ritualistic, perpetually unbalanced and unhinged, everything coalescing into one of the strangest and yet also most dangerous sounds the label's laid witness to in recent years. Which is all to say nothing of the band's masterful grasp of dynamics, often allowing clean 'n' chorused textures to take center stage and instill a creepiness beyond compare.

If references help - and usually they don't, as Devil's Paradise is again its own miasmic headspace - BLACK DEATH CULT could be likened to the full panorama of Beherit's always-challenging canon as well as other unorthodox magickians like Master's Hammer, Tormentor, Necromantia, Root, Barathrum, CULTES DES GHOULES, and RIDE FOR REVENGE. But even then, that only tells half the tale...and so many sulfurous splendors await. Submit thy soul to this Devil's Paradise! / HHR