The pulverisers of piety have returnethed…
Review by Jason Guest
Independent Release
Release date: 11 April 2015
It is a well-known fact that evil begins in the bottom, and so it’s up to Cardinal Sinne’s rectum-rupturing bassline to usher in the rampant riffage, the vehemently venomous vocals, and merciless drumming (that this is a drum machine is barely noticeable; kudos to the programmer) of the evil ‘Radix Malorum Est Fidelatis’. Fortified by an impressive lead break (courtesy of Dakesis’ Matt Jones), this unreservedly ruthless onslaught opens the debut album of the Midlands’ very own pulverisers of piety. Yes, in the last four years of smoking crack and worshipping Satan, it appears that Christgrinder found time to write and record Whence Cometh Evil?
A doom-tempo intro, a blast of d-beat, and then ninety seconds of blackened, deathened, punkened savagery, the title track is soon done with. With eastern melodies woven into the riffs and its intricate structure, ‘All Is Dust’ drops the tempo for a track that, were you to be so bold, could be called progressive, as could perhaps the flute whistling pagan charm of the intro to ‘He Of Cloven Hoof and Leathering Wing’. But Christgrinder aren’t that pretentious. And testament to that is the fiercely delivered thirty seven second track, the cheerily entitled ‘Raped, Killed & Raped Again’. Not death metal enough? ‘Necrodegenrate Phallus Envenomation’ should be. As should ‘Faster than the Speed of Darkness’ because it’s taken you longer to read this sentence than to listen to the entire track. The epic ‘To Reign In Hell’ is an adventurous piece but the dragged and growling vocals let it down. A shame because on this otherwise magnificent album, this is the only weak point.
‘Things That Walk Which Ought To Crawl’ gets it right, the piano and vocal harmonies bringing a suitably haunting touch that anticipates the beautiful ‘The Black Adhan’. A reworked version of the Adhan (the Islamic Call to Prayer) that testifies that “there is no God” and that “the worship of god is a poison”, as an introduction to ‘Opening the Eye of Aisha’, Christgrinder’s opinion of religion is abundantly clear. And written from the perspective of Muhammad’s nine or ten year old wife at the time of consummation, the music and the beautifully tortured vocal delivery of Dani Hawkins of the now sadly defunct Ishmael, ‘Opening the Eye of Aisha’ – a euphemism perhaps? – tells of the loss of innocence and issues of consent and arranged marriage in the ancient world. Happy days, huh? And so, what better way to end such a dark diatribe than with a cover of ‘Witchfinder General’? Hence cometh evil.
9 out of 10
Track Listing:
- Radix Malorum Est Fidelatis
- Whence Cometh Evil?
- All Is Dust
- He Of Cloven Hoof And Leathering Wing
- Raped, Killed & Raped Again
- Necrodegenrate Phallus Envenomation
- Faster Than The Speed Of Darkness
- To Reign In Hell
- Things That Walk Which Ought To Crawl
- The Black Adhan
- Opening The Eye Of Aisha
- Witchfinder General
