Hailing from the US comes Lucifixion, a black metal duo who’s rituals have conjured up a nearly fifty minute spell titled Trisect Joys of Pierced Hearts. Taking influence from the old Scandinavian guard of the 90s, and a handful of bands from the early 00s, Lucifixion is able to create a timeless sound that keeps the cold and trve sound of black metal alive in modern times, with a slight modern twist in my opinion. With stripped back and minimalistic production and a heavy influence on the melodic side of things, these guys rip a new one in the underground with their feral musical mania.
This album greets you with a melodic splendor with screeching fast tremolo picked guitars and guttural vocals that spew hatred. This release has a very crisp and clean sound. Yet the guitars have this raw staticy edge that really encompasses that true black metal feeling. They’re able to pack in a lot of melodic songwriting that has a very progressive nature to it. Something a bit different than other black metal releases where there’s this traditional heavy metal feeling to it. These guys really put the metal into black metal. With some awesome mixing of faster and frantic passages alongside more slower and methodical passages, There’s enough diversity in each of the tracks to keep your attention and for each song to stand on its own. The production as stated before is stripped back and minimalist, but certainly not that raw demo sound that is everywhere in the underground these days. Their style is certainly more approachable and digestible to the untrained ear.
All through out, this album is hard hitting, not letting the listener rest besides a few ambient passages that give this sort of somber and harsh atmosphere that I think departs from the rest of the album. Many of the tracks have this triumphant and powerful feeling that helps build a bigger atmosphere and thanks to the wailing guitar solos and melodic riffs, give the album this sort of old school heavy metal vibe that is direly missing in modern day black metal. Thankfully, Lucifixion helps bring the metal back in black metal with this release. While those ambient passages are good and well made, I feel like the album could’ve used with out it, as I think they just sorta help pad out the overall time of the release.
This is a real traditional black metal album and I think is a perfect introduction to modern black metal as a whole for those who are uninitiated. The structure, attitude, and atmosphere is all there wrapped up in this beautifully composed album with a crisp and modern sound. For being their first release, this is certainly a strong start and makes me wonder how it’ll be moving forward for this band. They have a very timeless sound that could go into any direction and I’m certain it’ll end up being good. For those trve black metal warriors, this album is a must listen, and those heavy metal fans who want to venture into something heavier and darker, this is a great album to start with.