Lord Belial reclaims his throne.
Following his latest resurrection in 2022, the band led by Thomas Backelin (guitar/vocals, Mastema, ex-Death Tyrant), Niclas Pepa Green (guitar, Vassago, ex-Sacramentum), and Micke Backelin (drums, Vassago) returned to the studio to create Unholy Trinity, their tenth album.
Andy LaRocque (King Diamond) contributed guitars and handled the recording, mixing, and mastering, while Mike Hrubovcak (Azure Emote, Imperial Crystalline Entombment, House by the Cemetery, ex-Monstrosity…) took care of the artwork.
Ipse Venit immediately confronts us with the band’s biting darkness, from which bloody harmonics and furious screams escape over a fast but also very melodious basis. The band doesn’t pull any punches, unleashing all its raw darkness before becoming slightly more haunting on Glory to Darkness, the next track, which offers more ethereal harmonics to complement the initial rage. There are also short, more distressing passages and waves of transcendent leads, but the track gives way to Serpent’s Feast, which floods us with its sweetness before letting the rhythm ignite and welcoming menacing screams, creating a fascinating contrast. The central acceleration is virulent, leading to a more majestic finale before Blasphemy takes over, immediately showing itself to be wilder and proudly displaying its sharp Old School overtones while the impressive rhythm section does its work. In Chaos Transcend offers us a brief moment of respite, but the riffs eventually return with fury and soaring tones accompanying the roars, as well as a more solemn passage where solos and clean vocals color the rest of the track, followed by The Whore which returns to more straightforward sounds, covered by infernal dissonance. We continue with Scornful Vengeance which remains almost permanently aggressive, even when the lead guitar weaves superb tones to soften the whole, but the atmosphere softens again with The Great Void, whose crystalline notes fly freely above a heavy rhythm. The massive percussion gives this track a theatrical feel, but it eventually fades away so that Antichrist can strike with a heavy and haunting sound, summoning the dark forces one last time for more than eight minutes during which the riffs never cease their assault, even if they do slow down.
Unholy Trinity allows Lord Belial to reaffirm his blasphemous firepower, offering furious and dark riffs to perfection. The album is a worthy contender for the top spots of the year, and almost makes us hope for a return to the stage.
95/100
