ALBUM REVIEW: De Vermis Mysteriis – Baxaxaxa
We all have those albums that transport us back in time. Whether it’s a song that soundtracked a holiday, the first album you ever fell in love with or a defining period in your life. In the case of German black metallers BAXAXAXA and their new album De Vermis Mysteriis, you’ll have no choice but to be taken back to the 90s heyday of metal’s most sinister genre.
The simple reason is this: BAXAXAXAXA are purists. Fascinated by the macabre and magick nature of the genre, theirs is a sound that channels those early, Norwegian years that saw the likes of DARKTHRONE and EMPEROR rise to prominence. Sure enough, the German band formed way back in 1992, but De Vermis Mysteriis is only their second full-length release after 2020’s Catacomb Cult. Judging by their work though, it’s clear that the long periods of silence from the BAXAXAXAXAXA camp merely suggested a band that wanted to do this for the right reasons.
Sure enough, De Vermis Mysteriis perfectly toes the line of paying homage to the progenitors of black metal and sounding completely fresh. While there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before, the band put their own accents and highlights onto the music. Their ability to switch between the doomier, slower passages of opener Seed Of Golgotha and the rapid, razor-sharp sections of the title track is sublime, covering everything that black metal has become over the years. It appears that BAXAXAXAXAXAXA is an encyclopaedia for the genre.
Vocalist Traumatic does his best ‘dragged back from the dead’ impression throughout, his punished and anguished cries always level to the leading line of guitarist Cryptic Tormentor. The rhythm section of Condemptor on drums and Sulphur Irae on bass is ever-present without being overbearing, and the keys and backing vocals of Irrwycht make this a complete performance that sucks you in and refuses to let go.
There are moments that feel like they stunt the record, although they are scarce. The atmospheric interlude track Decarnation Monument falls wholly too late in the album as the penultimate track and waylays proceedings just as it felt like BAXAXAXAXAXAXAXA were on a roll. Kiss Of Shame also features one of the most bored sounding ‘AAGGGGGHHHHH’s you’re likely to hear all year, which is a shame considering how well Traumatic does throughout the rest of De Vermis Mysteriis.
Instead, it’s tracks like Awaken, The Old Thing In The Ground that will stick in your memory; the monolithic centrepiece to the record is as brilliant as it is bleak. Combining doom riffs and black metal vocals with middle-eastern elements and a gang vocal section that sounds like a whole cemetery has arisen to wreak havoc makes these eight minutes fly by in what feels like half the time.
In the end, De Vermis Mysteriis is the sound of a band taking a step sidewards, rather than forward. For some, that may be a problem, but when the work is this solid and consistent, it’s a tough album to take issue with. BAXAXAXA may have been lying in wait for nigh on 30 years, but they bided their time well, and we should all be thankful to them for what they’ve been able to produce.
Rating: 7/10
De Vermis Mysteriis is out now via The Sinister Flame.
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