Remnants of Existence

Leave it to the Greeks to find what death metal is often missing! Blessed by Perversion play the genre at its catchiest, without veering into “melodic” territory; and its most atmospheric without ever sacrificing an ounce of heaviness. If that sounds like a long way of saying “please more keyboards in my death metal!” well yes that’s part of it. But the traditional metal instruments, as well as vocals and lyrics, do a great job of forging the atmosphere too.

Andreas’ vocals are very deep, reminding me of Paul Kuhr from Novembers Doom in his ability to sound at home with slower passages as well the conventional death metal pace. His tone is mostly comprehensible, which is good because the lyrics are worth it. Take this example from “Gallery of Bones”:
Wooden crosses everywhere
A graveyard under the view
Of their eternal monument
A barren landscape covered with dead soil
Great stuff! I’ll take that bleak nihilism over aggressive anti-religion any day.

Instrumentally, it’s the last two songs on Remnants of Existence that best encapsulate Blessed by Perversion’s two styles. First, there’s the pummeling ferocity of “Caverns of Torture”. Kostas and Manolis on the guitars treat us to a duel between choppy bursts of tremolo, and juddering crunches that are so heavy, they’re almost percussive. At their best, Kataklysm did that, so did Dutch greats Severe Torture. Blessed by Perversion keeps right up with those guys. Then we’re back to the haunting atmospheric side with album closer “Within Monumental Chaos”. Song absolutely merits its title! I love how the keyboard picks up the creepy clean guitar intro, before giving way to a lumbering march of electric guitar. When done right, slow death metal can be heavier than the faster stuff; and “Within Monumental Chaos” accomplishes that on a level at least equal to Morbid Angel’s Blessed Are the Sick.

You want fierce high energy death metal? You want a horrifying ride down the dead corners of the human spirit? It’s all here. I’m looking forward to more Blessed by Perversion albums - also, to longer albums, please!