Not that long ago I introduced myself to a certain big USBM project, Profanatica, whose string player John Gelso has now teamed up with no-one else than Imperial of e.g. Krieg fame. The latter person’s work in the realm of black metal I’m a little more familiar with, so seeing these two guys together releasing an album full of filthy black metal is indeed intriguinig.
The Royal Arch Blaspheme is the name of this entity that ravages on ten tracks of primitive death / black metal on their self-titled debut. Tempo kept usually at relatively moderate levels, this filthiness crawls forth not by any fast speeds but by the utter menace of the evil reeking tremolo riffs - a fine example of the relative slowness would be the album ender ”Kingdom of Perversions” that would fit well under the tag doom metal. But for the most part, The Royal Arch Blaspheme comprises quite a static blast beat throughout many songs on which the riffs appear. The guitar ideas here don’t flourish in diversity but who would have expected that anyways? Just expect a big load of Beherit influenced old school worshipping, overall.
While Profanatica’s Disgusting Blasphemies Against God had one certain feature that made it stand above the masses of similar albums (the cavernous, bass-full production), I find that The Royal Arch Blaspheme is lacking that specific feature that would make it truly memorable. Sure, Imperial’s convincing growls and shrieks are a pleasure to hear and the overall atmosphere is pretty well crafted darkness, but on this album the production seems rather to be a minus: the programmed drums are clear to a slightly annoying extent and also otherwise the whole sound seems to in need of heaviness. That said, The Royal Arch Blaspheme does not reach as far as many others in the field, but is certainly a worthwile effort to look into if this definite cult style of black metal appeals to you.
The Royal Arch Blaspheme is the name of this entity that ravages on ten tracks of primitive death / black metal on their self-titled debut. Tempo kept usually at relatively moderate levels, this filthiness crawls forth not by any fast speeds but by the utter menace of the evil reeking tremolo riffs - a fine example of the relative slowness would be the album ender ”Kingdom of Perversions” that would fit well under the tag doom metal. But for the most part, The Royal Arch Blaspheme comprises quite a static blast beat throughout many songs on which the riffs appear. The guitar ideas here don’t flourish in diversity but who would have expected that anyways? Just expect a big load of Beherit influenced old school worshipping, overall.
While Profanatica’s Disgusting Blasphemies Against God had one certain feature that made it stand above the masses of similar albums (the cavernous, bass-full production), I find that The Royal Arch Blaspheme is lacking that specific feature that would make it truly memorable. Sure, Imperial’s convincing growls and shrieks are a pleasure to hear and the overall atmosphere is pretty well crafted darkness, but on this album the production seems rather to be a minus: the programmed drums are clear to a slightly annoying extent and also otherwise the whole sound seems to in need of heaviness. That said, The Royal Arch Blaspheme does not reach as far as many others in the field, but is certainly a worthwile effort to look into if this definite cult style of black metal appeals to you.
2.5 / 5
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