Album Review: Blazemth – Gehenna (Negra Nit)

Belonging to the first Spanish black metal wave, and to the Catalan movement known as Blackcelona, Blazemth are survivors of their time who continue to pay homage to the purest and most traditional black metal. Now Volkhaar and company present ‘Gehenna’, a new album that will be released on December 23rd on CD, LP and digital thanks to the Negra Nit label.

Let blasphemy reign supreme, Blazemth are back and with a tome of wickedness unlike anything else heard this year. There’s black metal, and then there’s the primordial black metal that they play. This is the blackness that existed before there were stars, and it creates a level of dread few will have felt in some time.

It’s not just about the heavy intensity though, it’s also about the atmosphere and flair, of which there is plenty to enjoy. From the moment Enok creates a disconcerting environment, to the moment hellacious blackened heaviness comes crashing down with To the Valley, the scene is set, and it’s one that few will be forgetting anytime soon.

From this stage onwards though, the creativity of this album expands to excessive levels. Not just in length, but in detail. Thy Hell is the first of many that unleashes a whole new level of eye-widening and stomach-churning malice. A highly imaginative showcase that isn’t restrained by the black metal genre. Something further proven by the cacophony of brazen brilliance that comes from We All Die Guilty and Into the Crypt of Iggdrasyl. Two very different tracks, but with one thing in common and that’s the brilliance of Blazemth.

Experimental? Progressive? Weird? Whatever word you wish to use to describe Blazemth’s creativity, it all comes down to the same thing and that’s the fact that it’s so damn special.

Sinister heaviness has never sounded so appealing, and even as Blazemth infect the mind, body, and soul with their sinfulness, it never stops being a delight. One massive highlight is the chaotic intensity of I Am Fire, I Am Death, Blazemth at their most ‘death metal’ sounding. Which sits comfortably alongside the wickedness of Incantation, and ensures the explosiveness of The Graven has even more impact. That the latter is just two-odd-minutes of feral noise is particularly amusing, seeing as it’s then followed by a near-ten-minute finale called Nifelheim that genre-bends, crafts impeccable layers of atmosphere, and is blacker than the deepest pits within Hel.

Outstanding stuff from Blazemth and just when we thought we’d seen the best of black metal in 2024 too.

Blazemth – Gehenna Track Listing:

1. Enok
2. To The Valley
3. Thy Hell
4. We All Die Guilty
5. Into the Crypt of Iggdrasyl
6. I Am Fire, I Am Death
7. Incantation
8. The Graven
9. Nifelheim

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