Tempus Apocalypsis

There are many injustices in the cruel world of black metal, but the most obvious can unquestionably be found in Polish band Besatt’s lack of notoriety. Active for more than twenty years, this Silesian group remained true to its musical roots throughout its career, punctuated by eight full-lengths and many other releases. Despite this, these intransigent Satanists never managed to develop a significant audience beyond their borders, unlike many other groups from their country.

I myself have discovered Besatt with their Black Mass album, a pure, brutal and hateful black metal manifest. It was followed by Triumph of the Antichrist and Demonicon, perpetuating the band’s evil work, distinguished by its ferocious song writing. However, I always thought that bands whose origins date back to the earliest ages of the black metal tend to wane over time, while releasing mediocre albums. Well these demonic goblins seek to contradict me with Tempus Apocalypsis, probably the best album of their career.

Damn it’s fierce! It tumbles without firing a shot right from Seals Of Hate first chords and never looks back. The sound is clear and heavy, like on Demonicon, and definitely goes away from first albums’ mixing roughness. But major strength of this record relies primarily on drums, held by a virtuoso able to go from blast beats to more groovy rhythmic, without provoking any break. This ability shown by Marcel “Devastate” Szumowski – which is but a guest on this album – is probably coming from his experience with thrash and heavy metal, which he plays with his other band Killjoy.

But honor Beldaroh, band’s black soul, only original member still in office. His song writing work is solid again, alternating hysterical passages and others rather thrashy. It gives strenght to an album that is much more than just a forty minutes blast beat, as evidenced by War Gathering, which offers an epic moment in the heart of the battle, or Queen Babylon with its female recitative.

Direct, aggressive and uncompromising black metal fans, Tempus Apocalypsis is for you. Besatt again proves that it belongs to European metal elite, a well-deserved recognition I want to share with as many as possible devil’s worshipers. 8/10

Originally written for Métal Obscur.