Blackevil - Forever Baptised in Eternal Fire

Angry Metal Guy 80

This post is dedicated to AMG’s Professor of the Darkened Thrash Arts, Mark Z. Mark is pursuing arcane knowledge to better enable him to advance Satan’s agenda (read: he’s going to law school). Several of us have pledged to cover all of the goaty, witchy, and vomity things while Mark takes a bit of a break.

Something wicked this way comes. What is that thing? It’s Germany’s Blackevil — and their sophomore record Forever Baptised in Eternal Fire follows with them. These maniacal monsters play a potent mixture of blackened thrash, speed metal, and pure heavy metal — the kind that Iron Maiden would have played if they’d been nearly as satanic and evil as the PMRC thought they were back in the 80s. Shimmering classic metal leads and furious black metal are brought together with such elemental force that the resulting phenomenon can only be described as a black fire tornado, and lucky for us, Blackevil wrote a song about just that! Embedded single “Black Fire Tornado” perfectly represents the band’s sound as it frantically charges forward at a furious speed metal pace while interjecting Maiden harmonies and catchy choruses throughout. Vocalist Abyss gives a dementedly diverse performance as he capably shifts from high-pitched speed metal cries to black metal shrieks to thrash metal roars to death metal growls and back again.

It was difficult to choose which advance track to feature here since all three options are incredibly strong. If I didn’t choose “Black Fire Tornado,” I could have gone with longer epic “Lucifer’s Supremacy” which begins with a Judas Priest intro and dynamically weaves through its runtime with speed and thrash metal passages, or the appropriately named “Pestkarren,” a nasty Deathhammer thrasher that seems tailor-made to piss off that Karen who’s always pestering you.¹ The three singles vary in style, but they do not vary in quality.

Blackevil – Forever Baptised in Eternal Fire by Dying Victims Productions

And therein lies the strength of Blackevil. With Forever Baptised in Eternal Fire, they’ve written nine fantastic tracks that each boast a unique character yet still combine to create a cohesive whole. The band know how to use the palette of their influences in seemingly infinite ways to fashion incredible songs, painting a happy little thrasher over here (“Satan’s Crown”) and a cute little speed metal number complete with atmospheric intro and Wagnerian outro over there (“The Final Book”). I was nervous when I saw that this blackened speed/thrash metal album contained two tracks that clocked in at over eight minutes, but my concerns evaporated upon listening. Closer “1943” is a war epic that takes me traveling in Stygian with its insanely precise Iced Earth galloping riff, and “Forever Baptised in Eternal Flames” just might make my shortlist for Song of the Year by somehow combining post-2000 Iron Maiden epicness with the most vicious blackened thrash chorus I’ve ever heard. Some of you might think the latter is too long and that the chorus is repeated too many times, but then again, some of you deserve to be “sanctified in fire” and “purified in flames.”

An absolutely stunning production highlights Blackevil‘s immense talent. Guitarist Deathinfektor is simply a metal god. His riffs are insane, and he wields the entire canon of legendary heavy metal leads with skill. Equally comfortable dealing in epic glory or stupidly brutal simplicity, his performance makes Forever Baptised an air guitarist’s wet dream. And if that weren’t enough, Abyss’s vocal performance takes everything to another level. I can usually judge how much I love an album’s vocals by the number of times I find myself invisible orange-ing as I (try) to sing along, and the citrus never seems to stop here. To put it bluntly, Abyss might be one of the strongest vocalists in the blackened thrash anything game right now. Every track on here kills, but if you don’t like “Satan’s Crown,” “Black Fire Tornado,” “Forever Baptised in Eternal Flames,” or “Pestkarren,” you might want to have someone check your pulse.

When I saw the straight-outta-Blasphemous artwork, I had a hunch that this would be special. I hunched rightly. Not since last year’s Bewitcher release has blackened speed metal been so gloriously combined with classic heavy metal. Blackevil has bottled lightning on Forever Baptised, so come on, jump in the fire! 3rd degree burns have never felt this good!

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Websites: blackevil.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/blackevilmetal | blackevil.net
Releases Worldwide: September 25th, 2020

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