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| Artwork By C. Moyen (Thorncross). |
I've had the good fortune of being along for the journey with this Belgian black/death band since Iron Bonehead released their demo, His Best Deceit, in 2013. Now after 2 additional EPs (Anneliese from 2014 and 1585-1646 from 2015) we finally have their debut album and boy is it something to behold.
If you are new to the band, nothing immediately screams out originality from their brand of musical brutality. There's just something about it though, almost indescribable, that makes it stand out from the crowd. Perhaps it's their ability to masterfully straddle the line between black metal and death metal while appealing to fans of both genres simultaneously. Vocally this is much closer to black metal with a vomited "rasp". Musically it's heavy with lots of low end fuzz that you want in your death metal, while still maintaining that otherworldly evil bestial quality of black metal. If I had to draw a comparison, envision Marduk's Those of the Unlight as a death metal album. Still evil as all hell but with thick guitars and vicious riffs.
All of this madness was still accomplished with some tweaks to the lineup; gone is original vocalist Mestema, replaced by bassist Viriakh, while they welcomed in Iblis as the new bassist. This was a seamless transition and the band hasn't slowed down for a moment.
While it's near impossible for a band to stand out from the pack these days with this style (absent some crazy gimmick), Possession are able to be at the head of their field simply with top notch songwriting and a blistering energy to match. Highly recommended. Essential. Buy it now. Insert whatever hyperbole you choose.
