Luciation – Infernalistic Flames of Luciftias

After hearing Danish Black Metal band Blodfest, I was interested to learn that two of its members also play in another band, Luciation, who describe themselves as “Unholy Danish Black Metal”. And that’s exactly what they deliver on this depraved tape. It’s like the soundtrack to a wild witch-fucking orgy in the Dark Ages.

We’ve heard very little Black Metal from Denmark, so it’s pleasing to hear of another interesting Danish band who seek to embody the essence of evil and fear in musical form.

As soon as ‘A Sea of Old Satanic Blood’ starts, you realize that Luciation exist to create utterly harsh, noisy, fast Black Metal with an unnervingly evil atmosphere. As you might expect, the sound is raw as fuck – think Transylvanian Hunger but harder and coarser. The drums hammer away like a blacksmith berserker, and the guitar and bass are played with such disturbing levels of burning rage that you wonder if the instruments will burst into flames at any second.

The vocals are perhaps the most severe voices I have ever heard in a Black Metal recording: vicious, goblin-like growls and – most eerie of all – deep, bellowing groans, which I don’t think are actually human.

There’s seven tracks on this 37 minute tape, the last of which, ‘Within the Woods’ is a 10 minute outro made up of samples from Sam Raimi’s short film of the same name (his pre-cursor to ‘The Evil Dead’). If you’re a fan of the film, this inclusion will conjure up fond memories of the undead classic, but I’d say it’s not really needed as the six tracks before it are, in their own way, more sinister.

Luciation tend to use chaotic riffing throughout each song, repeated extensively with minor deviations. Tracks such as ‘Infested Female Skull Orgy’ and ‘The Ninth Gates of Misery and Despair’ make good use of changes in rhythm, but as a whole this release forms a relentless, pounding drone of hellish Black Metal noise, epitomized by my favourite track, ‘Paranormal Spirits of Evil Curses’.

I expect many people will hate this release for its limited musicianship. For me, it’s the chaotic effect of the sound and the ritualistic atmosphere that makes Infernalistic Flames of Luciftias so interesting – and I appreciate these qualities more with each listen. Somehow, this band have found a way to make extremely harsh music that’s also chillingly atmospheric.

This high-speed nightmare is not music to be enjoyed – it actually makes you worry about what the fuck was happening when the recording was made. Like the best horror films, it’s a dark, disturbing experience that you must want to endure. If you’re curious, I recommend that you try it.

Sample track: ‘A Sea of Old Satanic Blood‘

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Tags: 2007, Denmark, Luciation, Nonagram, Phlegm Production

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 09:40 and is filed under Black Metal Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.