Lista de Bandas Black Metal The Royal Arch Blaspheme The Royal Arch Blaspheme

With already a whole host of bands in his resume (including Krieg, Judas Iscariot, Twilight), Imperial once again joins forces with another black metal force, J. Gelso from Profanatica to bring you 39 minutes of ear-raping dirty black metal. Having each of their individual bands already releasing an album this year (Krieg's The Isolationist and Profanatica's Disgusting Blasphemies Against God), this had me wondering what RAB were going to add to the whole host of black metal masterpieces already released in 2010.

Well, to put it in a single sentence, this is nothing like each of the individual releases mentioned above, there are no cold riffs and atmosphere that The Isolationist gives us, and neither is it a clone of Disgusting Blasphemies Against God, but I sure am glad chancing upon this record. What we have here is a sped up version of Profanatica, combined with Imperial's tortured, gruff vocals, though in a somewhat similar vein of Ledney's (Profanatica), but deeper, and in a way, more punishing.

The album starts off with a death/doom feel with heavy crushing and painfully slow (in a good way of course) riffs, however, do not be deceived by this as the main riff of the song kicks in. Wave after wave of blasphemous riffs are sent crushing to the listener, leaving little time to breathe (and neither would the listener want any time to breathe at all with music as evil as such).

Of course, the album is not a complete monotone or entirely a speed-fest as the duo displays their brilliance in making use of pauses to create sort of an anticipatory effect on the listener, yet jumping in when least expected, leaving the weak-hearted shitting their pants. Songs like Jahbulon gives a false sense of serenity at the beginning with soft peaceful background music before properly punishing the inattentive listener. Then again, you might have been an idiot if you hadn't expected something like this.

The album also provides an avenue where Gelso gets to display his ability to create an atmosphere with his musical ingenuity. For example, on Denial of the Holy Spirit, the riffs and the seemingly simple solo towards the end of the song lashed out by Gelso feels as if you are watching the world come to an end yet are unable to do anything about it, almost causing panic to strike in the heart. The bass also takes the role of lead instruments in some instances, for example the bass intro of Isaiah 14:12, which succeeds in providing a sinister prelude to the song proper.

Production of the album, as expected from anyone who is familiar with their (Imperial's and Gelso's) brand of black metal, is raw, yet not to the extent where all instruments are blurred out and nothing can be made out. Instead, this adds an overall nice (or should i say, dirty?) touch to the music, further adding to the evil that is already present in the music itself. I especially liked the prominent bass lines throughout the album, enhancing the entire experience and providing with an extremely rounded sound.

Whoever says that simple riffs and beats doesn't equate to good music simply has to listen to RAB's self-titled album to be shut up.

The Royal Arch Blaspheme is certainly one band to look out for, and is definitely recommended for fans of bands that play music in the veins of Profanatica.