Christ Dismembered shows its teeth.
In 2025, the Australian band led by Plague (drums), and completed by Arch Worm (vocals/guitar), Doomsayer (guitar, Beyond Mortal Dreams, Oath of Damnation…), Winter Demon (guitar, Caro Tere, Celestial Burial, Darkened Winter…) and Skorpa (bass, Tanin’iver) puts an end to the silence by unveiling Of Vampiricy, their second album.
After a rather ominous introduction featuring bells, wind and murmurs, Fool’s Gambit immediately grab us by the throat with riffs that are first icy and then virulent, creating a very special atmosphere, not to mention those visceral, morbid vocals. The heavy atmosphere is reminiscent of uncompromising Old School Black Metal, but also of vampire films, with its borrowings from Dungeon Synth, as on Mother Of Demons, which takes over without delay and tramples us underfoot with its devastating blast. The piercing harmonics are the perfect complement to the martial rhythm, which only calms down to let us join The Numbers Oppose You, where it picks up again at full speed, retaining the unstoppable and permanent violence that rages, transforming for a while into a hypnotic melody on Under The Cross. The quietude doesn’t last, as the vocalist once again abandons herself to pure violence, once again fuelling the captivating dungeon-like atmosphere that calms down on The Banishment, a mysterious interlude that lets us catch our breath while keeping us in this gloomy universe. A Ritual Most Foul follows, distilling its fury as the band is wont to do, but there’s a more moderate break before the final surge that throws us onto Sorcerer Of Nazareth, where we find all this unleashed rage without a moment’s pause. The recipe is the same for Child Devouring Servants Of Satan, but you can feel that the vocal parts are sometimes even more scathing than usual, reinforcing the power of the whole track, which also allows itself some melodious leads before fading out to make way for See You In Hell, where the atmosphere once again becomes heavier and takes on a rather different darkness. Some passages are a little more raw, as on the final composition Riddled With Sin, which also offers a certain melancholy in its harmonics, almost reminiscent of the Gothic universe – obviously taken to the extreme – and which suits the band perfectly.
Christ Dismembered have long remained silent, or at least very discreet, but this return bodes well for their presence on the Black Metal scene. There’s not a weak track on Of Vampiricy, which rolls over us from start to finish!
95/100