My Soul for His Glory

The greater their past albums were, the greater is the disappointment in my shorts when hearing this album. Two fucking names that deserve a lead intoxication from an AK-47 for being mere punk-tinged whineballs rendering black metal directionless are Behexen and Malleus Malleficarum, on their latest albums.

Behexen, unlike Malleus Maleficarum, were able to pull the string and unleash fierce onslaughts over the heads of the audience. Judging from the way it starts, this album would be a huge change of pace, with that over-stretched intro-douchion containing the oh-so-clichee screams of men, chicks and infants and whatever I might have forgotten. One can quickly realize that the black metal scene is split between the traditionalist worshippers and "atmospheric" scientists, and some bands try to combine these two aesthetics. Behexen is one of these cases. Fact is, as in many other cases of this kind, they fail. Moonblood was a successful case of blending melancholy and aggression.

What Behexen did is a collection of sonorities transformed into the stereotypes of this genre, with a different presentation. The general pace has been slowed down (I would say a lot, considering the teeth-shattering bombast of By The Blessing..., for example), and some uninteligible/badly recorded/badly played bursts of speed rip through the songs. Some sort of leads are present in the album, and a few are enjoyable, albeit not a considerable enhancement. The vocal part is not as loud as on previous works, and it hardly shows any trace of emotional involvement. I just guess Satan will become allergic to black metal, since so many black metal bands include his name in their verses just like a steak includes a piece of flesh. An odd moment is when the screaming part is replaced by a hollow chant, which sounds great nonetheless! Though, you can't give a platinum medal to an album that steps so many times in a big pile of confusion and shows only a few traces of inspiration. It's almost comical how a band of such a caliber promises a triumphant comeback to blow off the competition and manages only to blow.

This album could be qualified very justfully as "buy or don't buy", with emphasis on the second part. Or, if you prefer the first part, just write "download" instead.