Hierophant Nox

ALBUM REVIEW

Inferno - Black Devotion
Agonia Records

Inferno have been ravaging the Czech Republic with their bitter and blasting imperious black metal for a good fourteen years or so, and have bothered underground ears with more split releases than should be humanly possible, while their full-lengths have gained momentum over the past decade, culminating this year in their fifth, “Black Devotion”. Grand but malicious, chaotic but direct, Inferno’s work has an undeniable quality about it which deserves to conquer new ears.

After an obligatory but ominous instrumental opener, “Black Devotion” truly gets underway with “Superior Will”, with its big, looping riffs, civilisation-crushing blasts and nasty, harsh vocals, all set off by a mean production job that enables Inferno to create a wall of sound without the risk of losing details or, conversely, sounding too polished. All the power is pleasingly in the guitars, with hell-troubling riffs and fearfully vicious leads contributing to a whole world of aggression and spite. “Eaten by Rats Forever” has the same grandness as Satyricon a few albums back, with a slower section hinting at what’s to come on “Loyalty of Honour”, a slow, melodic, Emperor-inspired instrumental. That’s not to suggest that Inferno are single-mindedly Nordic – the Czechs have their own black metal traditions, after all.

The speed and ‘weight’ of this album are really notable, and in this regard “Altar of Perversity” is a stand-out track, with its evil, spiralling riff and drumming that approximates a winter landslide. The slicing razor of a riff is showcased all on its own, and vocalist Andramalech searing his throat with some hair-raising howls to the sky. This gleeful approach to the creation of a racket, combined with the swagger present on tracks such as “Message to Ages” evokes other noisy hell-raisers, for example Dark Funeral, who have massive appeal amongst extreme metal fans who wouldn’t necessarily opt for black metal as their first choice of poison, and I can see Inferno having the same cross-community charm.

The song-writing on “Black Devotion” would suggest that they deserve it; although they stand firmly by their fast, furious and downright thundering ways, they weave a satisfying amount of variation into their compositions, with “Way to Illumination Lies in Darkness”, especially, having a moving dynamic, whilst closer “Epilog” ramps itself up slowly and irresistibly. If fearsome, go-for-the-throat black metal is your style, this quality release should catch your attention.