Lucifericon

AL-KHEM-ME

INVICTUS PRODUCTIONS BLACKENED DEATH DIABOLISM FROM THE DARK HEART OF THE NETHERLANDS

Not ones to rush matters, Dutch occultists Lucifericon have taken nigh on a decade to release their debut album.

With deep roots in their native underground scene going back to the start of the second wave, Al-Khem-Me offers eight slices of blackened death metal with a nods to late 80s death metal. Sonically it’s unrelenting and scalding sheet metal, where the satanic chaos of Morbid Angel and Necrovore meets the icy Norsk black metal of mid-90s Mayhem . Titles like Szin-Niaq-Sa, Azothoz: The Alpha & Omega Zoa-Azoa and Flesh Unto Void, Void Unto Flesh (The Twofold Gate) don’t exactly roll off the tongue but are catchy, memorable and played with precision and presumably diabolic intent. Closing track Sevenfold nods to Viking-era Bathory and Candlemass with an epic, doom-laden gait. Well-crafted and ruthlessly delivered death metal with nods to all things occult, not least in its suitably musty-looking cover art, Al-Khem-Me is a fine debut.

FOR FANS OF: DESTRÖYER 666, MORBID ANGEL, PENTACLE

ALASTAIR RIDDELL