Entheogenesis

By the moment I received the new album of Corpus Diavolis from France, I stopped doing anything I was doing until that time and started to listen to “Entheogenesis”. For those that haven’t met the band yet, they were formed in 2008, they consist of five members and have released one EP, one split and two full lengths albums. So, “Entheogenesis” contains twelve compositions, one of which had been presented also in their split with Total Satan. The album’s overall duration is a little over fifty minutes.

The first impressions that the new album creates to the listener, at first come from the awesome packaging of the cd. The artwork is very nice, simple, with beautiful designs which make the listener understand from the beginning what he is going to listen to. By opening the six – page booklet, apart from the very beautiful artwork, we can see the impressive photos of the band and we can read the lyrics. Already by the external elements of the album, the band has raised the quality in a high level. Fortunately, also regarding their music, the band continues the very good work. Their music is not far from what they have already presented us, that is fast, technical Black Metal with various influences from the European scene. Their riffs mainly are fast, technical tremolo riffs, violent and aggressive while there are also a lot of mid and of slower tempo passages in which we will listen to disharmonic melodies and generally darker riffs. The band’s ability of composing music has improved much as they combine their interesting ideas perfectly, without any boring parts, with beautiful changes and structure so good that holds the listener’s attention and interest steady to a high level throughout the entire album.

Apart from their composing ability, Corpus Diavolis also impress with their ability of playing their instruments. Difficult melodies and riffs, both regarding the technical issues both the speed issues, are presented without the slightest mistake, with absolute accuracy while at the same time they don’t lack of passion and feelings. The guitars have distorted and somehow sharp sound which fits perfectly to the style of the compositions, they deliver the feelings and the atmosphere with accuracy. The bass can be heard clearly and has quite interesting lines that is that it is not limited only in filling the sound but it also takes the leading role in a lot of parts, in the slower parts mainly by giving more weight and depth to the compositions. The drums also have very interesting lines while they are played with passion and stability. The vocals have much variety, in the biggest part of the album they are harsh while depending on the part they become heavy and dirty. They are quite expressive and passionate and they make the compositions more intense. As I mentioned also in the beginning, the lyrics are contained in the booklet and they are written in English, with various parts and an entire song written in Bulgarian, and they are hymns to Satan or they speak about magic.

In my opinion, “Entheogenesis” combines the true love and the pure talent of an amateur with the flawless work in all levels of a professional. It reminds me of releases of big bands during ‘90ies. What is impressing though is that Corpus Diavolis are not supported by a huge international label, but they finance their work alone. However I won’t suggest you to buy the album in order to support the band which is self-financed and anything like that. I will tell you to buy this album just because it is an awesome album. The best way to end 2013.