Beware of Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition!
After nearly eight years far from the studio, Seb (vocals), Duff (bass), Mat Trak (drums), and Thomas Menudier (guitar, NZGL, A/Oratos) are back on a gore crusade with their sixth album, The Macabre Voodoo Messiah of Masochism and Fetishism.
Although they have been using real lyrics for almost twenty years now (as a reminder, the band was content with grunts during its first ten years), their Death/Grind approach remains as raw and direct as ever! Each of these thirteen tracks, with their increasingly violent and evocative names (Bukkake Kamikazes – The Holy Gokkun (The Communion of the Princesses of Araboth) at the top of the list), offers us a good dose of blasts, fast and sharp riffs, but also Seb‘s roars, which are increasingly mastered over the course of the albums, making these forty minutes as delicious as they are chaotic. Some tracks also feature more anguished harmonics, such as My Spintria to the Psychopomps, but the band obviously remains focused on pure violence, as evidenced by AutoSarcophagical Requiem, the first track, which definitively sets the tone for the album. There is no respite, no mercy, and even GoreGrind roots make an appearance between The Lord of the Infernal Legions and The Fall of the Kingdom of Heaven (666 Cyprine Pearls Wept by the Sky), whose name will always leave me perplexed. The most unexpected track, in my opinion, is the last one, The Doom of the Ishtar (the Gagged Madonna . Immaculate Bondage in Limbo), which draws from a little bit of everything, hits you right in the face, and leaves you with a smile on your face, closing out the album.
Are you familiar with Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition? Then you know that their chaos is relatively organized. But not on The Macabre Voodoo Messiah of Masochism and Fetishism, because the album is as solid as it is unpredictable.
85/100