Messiah strikes again with its seventh album!
Active since 1984, and despite long pauses, the band led by R.B. Brögi (guitar/vocals), Patrick Hersche (bass), Steve Karrer (drums) and more recently Marcus Seebach (vocals) and V.O. Pulver (guitar) unveils Christus Hypercubus for its fortieth anniversary on High Roller Records.
The album opens with Sikhote Alin‘s eerie sweetness, but saturation is never far away, and it’s not long before it (literally) explodes before offering a much more vindictive approach, incorporating dissonant melodies on the choruses. The powerful vocals perfectly match the ambient aggression, which also spreads to Christus Hypercubus with catchy patterns infused with devastating Old School Death boosted with raw blast. A few strange words bring the track’s imposing influences to life, leading us to Once Upon A Time… NOTHING, where screeching riffs and double kick go hand in hand to make our skulls wag as the vocalist blazes away, still leaving a niche for a few leads, then it’s with Speed Sucker Romance that the musicians slow down considerably. The track remains effective, offering crushing tones that differ but remain coherent, before accelerating again with Centipede Bite, which starts off at full speed, ensuring that the band will motivate the pits in front of which they will play in the future. The tempo drops after the solo, but returns to its original speed, leading into the apathetic Please Do Not Disturb (While I’m Dying), where heartbeats precede a melody and a few somber words. The infectious energy resurfaces on Soul Observatory and its jerky riffs, which suddenly break off to let a calmer final guiding us to Acid Fish and its lively tones led by overexcited drums. The track remains fairly straightforward, blending dynamic riffs with more ethereal harmonics, as does the mystery that follows on The Venus Baroness I, where the introduction prepares us for the waves of rage that will hit us in turn, whether with a belligerent rhythm or more piercing leads, then the sound gradually disappears, before reappearing with The Venus Baroness II, the final composition, which is slightly slower but just as heady thanks to persistent harmonics, perfectly complementing the solid riffs.
Messiah‘s style evolves with each album, and I find it particularly mastered on Christus Hypercubus. The riffs are simply effective and catchy, letting vocals and leads answer each other to enjoy the best of Death and Thrash Metal.
85/100