Review Summary: Inquisition aspire and succeed in reaching new heights that were only hinted at before.
As much respect as I have for Inquisition, they surely are the sort of black metal group who set themselves up for an attempt at humiliation each and every time they release a new album. Indeed, taking no less than around ten words to name most of your songs normally ends up in a shamefully embarrassing Facebook meme or a reaction video created for the sole purpose of obtaining some petty cash in the dust-collecting Google account, but Colombia's Inquisition have intellect and the forces of (relative) darkness on their side. You see, every release they have is a mark of improvement and maturity, not only that, but they also demonstrate a strong willpower to progress without providing heaps of substance to the black metal mainstream crowd or deliberately changing the sound to seem "edgy". What I mean to say is, Inquisition have progressed without actually
trying. And on the evidence of latest album
Bloodshed Across the Empyrean Altar Beyond the Celestial Zenith, they are a stronger forced to be reckoned with than ever before.
Inquisition demonstrate with latest album
Bloodshed... that the effort and power they pour into every successive release should not go unnoticed. On every song here-even the warped intro and outro ("The Force Become Darkness" and "The Invocation of the Absolute, the All, the Satan")-Inquisition give the impression of a band which are actually giving it their all, and not succumbing to an easy time in the studio. The musicianship is precise without being technical, the vocals are croaky and raspy without being hilarious, and the general atmosphere is obsessively haunting without the added cheese. Songs such as belligerent opener "From Chaos They Came" and its successor "Wings of Anu" are both exemplary efforts and manage to be two prime examples of how well-executed the rhythm section really is. Guitar work in particular is both complex and straightforward in equal parts, and not just in the two aforementioned songs, and accompanied by Dagon's raspy growl, the menacing vigour is pulled off effortlessly.
Bloodshed... time and again proves itself to be consistent and fluent all the way through, with little to no evidence of a lack of quality or gusto.
There is versatility to be found here too, although really it's more obvious in the album's second half than the first. It's not until "A Black Aeon Shall Cleanse" where the band truly spread their wings and adapt to an ever-changing environment, yet somehow they don't lose their consistency either. The same impression can be felt in the sweeping grandeur of the title track, where the musicianship at times is strangely uplifting and at the same time engulfing because of its grandiose scope. Instead of lyrics for the title track, the band merely inject a little storytelling surrounding the album's conceptual focus, and it works just as well. There's not only something to read along to whilst you're listening to the haunting vibrancy of the composition at work, but you can also get a strong reminder of Inquisition's never-ending well of cosmic ideas and menacing forethought. What I'm saying here, is that the aforementioned versatility doesn't necessarily affect the musical side of things. It doesn't have to. It affects the well-rounded aspects of everything that has been poured into the production of
Bloodshed..., and only then can you understand that, as straightforward as a lot of these songs are, they also eventually unravel as multi-dimensional soundscapes written solely for the purpose of astounding whoever listens.
Perhaps the only downside to
Bloodshed is, dependent on how focused the listener is and whether or not they prefer particular vocal styles, the vocal delivery and the way in which, upon first impression, the album disguises itself as "simplistic". The vocal delivery is mostly croaky and raspy, sort of a more guttural version of Fields of the Nephilim's Carl McCoy, and at times because of its lack of change, it can ruin what has been thus far an astounding listening session. Making up for this however is the lyrical precision and how it is utilised to dramatic effect. Most of the songs depend on a vocal rhythm, not just musical. Dagon's vocals are concentrated so much that each lyrical line, even syllable if you will, seems to have been broken down and separated into grouped words, so that it's more of a storytelling experience rather than simply some guy growing his way through a song. This level of commitment and focus should definitely not go unnoticed, and it makes songs such as "The Flames of Infinite Blackness Before Creation" all the more delectable to hear. To fully experience this effort, it takes more than a passive listen.
Inquisition have created opuses before, and its debatable whether or not
Bloodshed... will go on to be widely hailed as a fresh, exciting new chapter for the band. That said, listening to this latest work and comparing it to past Inquisition albums will do you no good, as it demands concentrated listens from start to finish with no distractions. Every aspect has been tweaked so that the best experience possible has not only been felt by Inquisition, but by its budding listeners too. It is certainly one of the finest black metal albums of 2016, if not the greatest.
