Review : BELPHEGOR – “Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn”

Belphegor – Walpurgis Rites – Hexenwahn
released October 20, 2009 on Nuclear Blast

It’s been a while since I have felt so… blasé about an album. This is certainly a great improvement over Belphegor‘s previous release, Bondage Goat Zombie (especially in the artwork and title department), but I still don’t feel the band clicking like they did on earlier albums like Blutsabbath. It just feels like there’s something missing.

They are still working with Rotting Christ and Die Apokalyptischen Reiter producer Andy Classen, who did work on their prior two releases. Classen’s style is unique, but I must say that I’m not a huge fan of it. Almost all bass frequencies, other than the bass drum, are cut out. It’s nearly painful to listen to at anything higher than the volume of background music. Maybe this is his way of preventing tinnitus or his fans are just masochists. I really do not know.

Musically, this is a fairly decent album. A few tracks stand out, like the 7-minute epic “Veneratio Diaboli – I am Sin” or the barrage of “Destroyer Hekate,” but the heavy death metal references in songs like “Hail the New Flesh” and “The Crosses Made of Bone” are disappointing. It’s as if they want to reduce the blackened side to their music and go down a route all too reminiscent of Behemoth. I also do not understand at all why the closing two tracks are separate. They are essentially the exact same thing, transition into each other seamlessly, and build from the exact same riffs. Luckily, the writing on both tracks is not bad, providing a nice slow pace to calm the listener before finishing their listen.

FCC: 1, 3, 8
Try 2, 4, 7

01. Walpurgis Rites
02. Veneratio Diaboli – I am Sin
03. Hail the New Flesh
04. Reichswehr In Blood
05. The Crosses Made of Bone
06. Der Geistertreiber
07. Destroyer Hekate
08. Enthralled in Toxic Sabbath
09. Hexenwahn – Totenkult

Rating: