It’s killing time for Whore of Bethlehem.
Six years after their last release, Ryan Sylvie (guitar/vocals, Scattered Remains), Phil King (guitar, Brunanburh, Cocytus), James VanDenBerg (vocals, ex-Infuriate), Alan Berryman (bass, Infuriate, ex-Cathexis), and Sam Axelrad (drums, ex-Cathexis) announce Ritual of Homicide, their third album, on Comatose Music.
Black Metal roots are the first to appear on Enlightenment Through Pain, quickly joined by the fury of massive Brutal Death Metal, creating a veritable hurricane of visceral strength. The band doesn’t waste a moment to bludgeon us before letting an unhealthy dissonance reign on Nails In Your Coffin, an equally violent composition exploiting the most aggressive parts of all its influences to fuel its rage. Dark harmonics meet brutal rhythm in an apocalyptic atmosphere before Ritual of Homicide, the eponymous track, comes to crush us with heavy and oppressive riffs. The epic leads give the bloody massacre a whole new taste, making it slightly more accessible while Vermin will assert its devastating aggressiveness with an Old School approach of its violence. The catchy sound will give way to Gateway, a worrying interlude in which we are visibly moving through a rather unwelcoming place before being greeted by a growl and then by Sermon of the Malignant Spirit, which once again brings the ambient Black Metal roots to the forefront before hitting with a ferocious rhythmic. The final unhealthy heaviness will shortly leave us before Out of Body unveils its dissonant harmonics, which the band will couple with more straightforward elements that also stick to their raw and ripping aesthetic, as well as overpowering screams. The track is still quite melodic at times, as is Disembodied with its sharp leads perfectly fitting the groovy and catchy riffs while giving them that heavy approach. The band continues its assault with Monolith of Cremation, a composition focusing way more on Death Metal elements with notably this solid blast and these jerky patterns, but also a well made Old School solo before this heavy final, which will let Pseudochrist, the bonus track, close the album with a last wave of raw and extremely efficient fury.
Although quite unusual, Whore of Bethlehem’s Brutal Death and Black Metal elements are incredibly catchy, mixing on Ritual of Homicide the most raw and unhealthy elements of both styles. A success.
90/100
