Chuck Schuldiner Project

Monday, March 4, 2013

Xanthochroid-Blessed He With Boils



Symphonic Black Metal is a hard genre to get right. From a compositional standpoint the amount of know how needed to execute is impressive. From a purely moral standpoint it is hard to stay trve to 'real' black metal when so many technical frills are employed. Yet Xanthochroid manage to do it with aplomb. Their music fuses pure black metal with more symphonic and even cinematic elements. A healthy dose of post black metal magic helps to keep the music vivid and shows how powerful they can be. With Blessed He With Boils Xanthochroid prove themselves to be capable and intelligent black metallers ready to take the genre by storm.

This album features lots of fancy keyboard passages reminiscent of Dimmu Borgir. Yet they seem to be much more cinematic than those of Dimmu. Instead of going for a epic and medieval atmosphere Blessed He With Boils could very well accompany a movie. The dynamics employed are also very interesting with lots of acoustic passages and even Gregorian chants which are immediately contrasted by ferocious black metal. The end result is a musical roller coaster that spins the listener around and disrupts them from any form of perceived rest.

In conclusion, Blessed He With Boils is a brilliant symphonic metal statement that grabs the listener by the throat and shows a group of stellar musicians at the peak of their art. Ever fresh and ever shifting this is a wild musical ride that many fans of black metal will enjoy. The journey between haunting melodies and harsh black metal is a wondrous one and Xanthochroid are capable guides. This odyssean quest is worth taking many times and will continually leave the listener astounded. I can't wait to see what this band does next!

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