Agonized in Belial's Land

Wrought from the same putrid rites of profanity that Mystifier, Beherit, Blasphemy and Archgoat unleashed in the fabled fog of the early '90s, Baphomancia is an impressive outfit hailing from the sunny lands of California, though you will find none of that sunshine here amongst the ruined altars of the damned. In comparison to modern bestial black war acts, Baphomancia is similar in scope to Vengeance Sorcery and Moenen of Xezbeth, if one were to downplay the synth-driven sound and increase the aggressiveness tenfold of the latter. Like most devotees to the hallowed halls of belligerent noise and eternal war, Baphomanica is no different, bringing little new to the bloodstained chopping block marked by hundreds before them. However, with that being said, the duo manages to so earnestly weave those well-spent spells into an opening salvo of pure hellfire, that any worshipper of goats, bullet belts, wraparound sunglasses and perpetual conflict will find much to their taste here.

Agonized in Belial's Land is a dark ritualistic piece blessed in Belial's own black blood of corruption. The intro 'Into the Abyss' delivers what it's title promises; a ruinous descent into a dreary synth-laden hellscape, punctuated by the feebled screams of the dying and damned. In all, it is a wonderfully horrifying way to begin this tome of terror and heralds the first track proper majestically. 'Kneeling Before Horned God' begins with the shrill cry of feedback, before breaking into a sparse, mid-paced clamour of dirty riffs and powerful drum work, that builds into a furious assault of blast beats and rancid filth. The demo does lo-fi production perfectly, each requisite fragment of blasphemy playing its part clearly from the next; whilst still maintaining the sound and atmosphere of an underground tomb, thick with reverb and the black blood of daemonic offspring gone wild. The vocals sound especially carnal, Sabbatan successfully evoking the deep, underworld shrieks to great and terrible effect.

Each song proper is composed in a primitive fashion; contrasting heavily between faster, blast beat driven sections that rip through any flesh unfortunate enough to be in its path, and slower, more sombre passages that sound akin to demo-era Goatlord. This composition, whilst simple in execution, work desolate wonders as each song never overstays any of the parts that make up its candlelit formulas. The synth work is also a thing of majesty, the outro 'Belialian Sabbat', being one of the better ends to an incantation in recent years, mournful organ melodies punctuated by Sabbatan's eerie, anguish laden whispers of things that should not be.

The guitar work, whilst functional and unrepentant in its delivery, is a tad uninspired at times but serves its purpose with earnest rancour. The riffs work best when they are drawn to a slow crawl, cumbersome power chords honed to majestic proportions, great crushing melodies bleeding the listener dry. The true soul stealer of the ritual is the fantastically morbid rhythm work of Sadismo, who drives the whole of the piece forward with an impressive talent for knowing when and where to hammer hardest, and when to let the rest of the sound breathe its carnal fumes fullest. The bass hammers along with the guitar in tandem, bolstering those melodies without stealing one iota of their delivery. The drumming of Sadismo is a glorious fusillade of war drenched savagery to behold and is best on display on 'Omens from the Dark Past', which Sadismo alternates between different blast beat styles, perfectly complementing the nasty tremolo riffing Sabbatan employs.

Agonized in Belial's Land is an excellent debut assault from the devious duo, which harkens back to the glory days when the sounds of bestial war were still in its infancy. Fortunately, they manage through eerie synth work and earnest song composition, to escape the woes of derivative complacency by laying down a hardy framework to build upon for future releases. Well constructed, blisteringly savage and hauntingly beautiful; Baphomancia has forged a seething slab of bestial war, one that any metal fan with even a fleeting interest in the scene would be remiss to ignore. The slack-jawed mouths of the sacrificed lay open upon the altars of malevolent fiends, the drugged chants of cultists break the filaments of reality and the grand scion of black flame, Belial, stands proud over the agony of that which he has unleashed; the name of Baphomancia to forever stain those gleaming lips of his for eternity.