Black metal band Idolatry is quite a beast. It’s quite a new band that finds the coldness needed for some good old school black metal in their home country Canada. They’ve released an EP a few years ago and are now ready to bring darkness into your life with their debut full length Visions From The Throne Of Eyes. At first glance it seems they have all the potential to be one of those 90’s second wave black metal bands. Crazy and fantasy-filled backstory, illustrious stage names, properly frightening corpse paint, a clear love for Satan and darkness… Are they going to deliver or will it be noise and re-chewed crap? If you can believe vocalist Lörd Matzigkeitus, you’re in for quite a hellish ride:
Visions from the Throne of Eyes is the evolution of Idolatry‘s sharpening sword. Vast, richly layered evils, intent on killing, punishing. It is in parts ambient, in parts rabid fury. A swirling madness that conjures every sorcery this band ever hinted at and made exponentially and frighteningly real. There is no black metal album comparable to this one. It is unique in its sophisticated attack and scope…
Tie yourself to its cold table and let yourself be tortured.
And (un)holy shit, they’re spot on! The whole record is black, filthy, rancid,… like it bubbled up from the deepest, darkest hole there is to find on this planet called Earth. As soon as the last tones of the atmospheric more ambient inspired intro song Visions From The Throne Of Eyes (Pt. I) and it’s creepy whispers fade away, they open up all registers. It really takes you back to the glory days of second wave black metal: blast beats, ice cold riffs and vicious vocals. Compared to most releases from that time the production is really clear though and that actually gives the overall sound an extra dimension.
They clearly haven’t really reinvented the genre here, but what they do with it shows absolute proficiency. What separates them from all other attempts to bring back the era of church burnings. And then you have the vocals put down by Lörd Matzigkeitus. He growls, screams, howls, whispers, yelps, manically cries out,… as if possessed by a whole horde of demons. You’d actually think there are several vocalists doing their thing here. Ridiculous what he belts and gurgles out of his body.
Lyrically they stick to the good old theme of Satanism, dark rituals and the lot. The thing that is really interesting here, is that many of the songs on this album actually consist of excerpts from Lörd‘s black metal poetry book Catharsis Spoke Her Virtuous Evil. Only Thunder From The Depths, Visions From The Throne Of Eyes (Pt. II) of which the lyrics are written by drummer Daemonkus Abominor and Illuminated Ominous Darkness are not in direct link with the poetry collection.
People who can still appreciate the second wave black metal from the nineties will be into Visions From The Throne Of Eyes really much. So dig up and dust off your spell books, inverted crosses and black candles and get settled for Idolatry‘s ritual. For me personally it’s sometimes a bit too much, but it’s a really well executed black metal creation with a great production without losing anything of it’s pureness and rawness. This ends up at 7,5/10.
Release Date: April 15th, 2016
Label: Humanity’s Plague Productions
Tracklist:
1. Visions From The Throne Of Eyes (Pt. I)
2. Thunder From The Depths
3. Satanas Haxan
4. Anachronistic Might Of Spellcasting
5. Cathartic Expulsion Of Shrieking Sorrow
6. Visions From The Throne Of Eyes (Pt. II)
7. Tiamatic Winds
8. Illuminated Ominous Darkness
9. Imperator Nero Murmurationis Hortum
