Belgium’s deadly thrashers Slaughter Messiah unveiled their debut full-length album Cursed To The Pyre. The guys take their experience from two demo’s and three EP’s and put it to good use creating their new work. They made the album how the ancient masters taught them, taking their influence from classic black, death and thrash metal and blending it into a unique whole. And they clearly show us what they’ve got in a musical way. Musically speaking, it features a blend between fast blast beats and shrieking guitar riffs, then followed up by more melodic palm muted aggression. Lyrically, the songs take their inspiration from themes as death, witchcraft and darkness. And this of course features well in our desired musical landscape.

The band

The band consists of guitarists Rod Iron Bitch Desecrator and T. Exhumator who both show a great level of skill on their instrument. Their playing style ranges from slow black metal riffs to hard thrash and everything in between! Furthermore of course, there are also the virtuoso solos which tie up the whole rather well. Drummer J.B. and bassist/vocalist L. Sabathan commandeer the rhythm and low-end section marvelously. Their playing is tight, straight to the point. And both drums and bass have an awesome tone to them. This was some great work from a mixing viewpoint too.

What you could call typical for our home country may be our beer consumption and my personal preference for Bastos cigarettes. I like to think that the source of our music comes from a lot deeper than just listening to the classics.

John Berry – Drummer

The soundscape that is Hideous Affliction

If I were to pick out one song from the album, the one to make you want to listen more, it would be Hideous Affliction. The song is a summary of the entire album in a way. The seven-minute song shows off everything the music is about. It starts out with a fast guitar riff accompanied by blast beats. Then it settles down a little with a more sinister melody to let the vocals join in. Only to have everything burst out again moments later. After that we continue on this path until about halfway through busts out a signature sound guitar solo. Following that, they continue the rest of the song by creating a magnificent landscape of music. A dark gloomy atmosphere is created by slow drums and guitars. Then the mood changes to more aggressive and uptempo. Up to where the music settles down and only a chinking melody can be heard fading out.

Fog of the end

Cursed To The Pyre sticks to its identity from start to finish, never straying from its originally. And it uncompromisingly keeps on pushing forward. As frontman Lord Sabathan puts it, they are out to “conquer the world and kick more ass”. And with that, I wish them good luck.

Release date: February 21st, 2020
Label : High Roller Records
Tracklist :

1. From The Tomb Into The Void
2. Mutilated By Depths
3. Pouring Chaos
4. Hideous Affliction
5. Descending To Black Fire
6. Pyre
7. The Hammer Of Ghouls
8. Fog Of The Malevolent Sore