ALBUM REVIEW: Necrodaemon Terrorsathan (re-release) – Belphegor

Austrian masters of hyper-speed filth and evil BELPHEGOR have re-mastered their excellent 2000 effort and earliest incarnation of their current sound Necrodaemon Terrorsathan. To those unfamiliar, A histrionic blend of traditional black metal and late nineties tech death, full to the brim with savage blastbeats, disgusting riffs and soaring solos across its paltry thirty-five minute length. The album is a fondly regarded blackened death metal pioneer, but does it really require redressing and dragging into the modern day, kicking and screaming?

The album starts with the addition of a whole new sample laid over the rain-and-dolorous-bell intro before crashing headlong into the title track, Necrodaemon Terrorsathan. The production is much more opulent than the original, far more in keeping with the band’s 2017 offering Totenritual. The obvious and presumably intended effect here is that finer details which were lost in the original’s rougher production are suddenly highly noticeable, every note, every hit of a drum and even the bass comes sharply into focus.

Tracks like Diabolical Possession and Tanzwut Totengesänge benefit from the new mix, as they are lifted from their previous murk and provide an insight into just how uncompromising these early incarnations of the BELPHEGOR sound are, essentially providing the audible equivalent of being locked in a dark room and bludgeoned to death. The drum sound is enormous and it compliments the dark and dirty nature of the riffs excellently. Helmuth’s vocals are a particularly aggressive highlight, barking across the top of the music but managing to wholly avoid overpowering it.

A negative point should be noted that while remastering this album and even inserting a new sample, nobody thought to do anything about the impossibly cheesy “orchestral” keyboard intro to the album’s closer Necrodaemon Terrorsathan pt.2. It sits, resplendent in its utter terribleness, marring an otherwise perfectly passable outro. What should have been the first thing to go in the remaster instead lurks at its threshold, waiting to pop its strange little head up and catch the listener completely by surprise, even though you already know it’s coming.

It could also be argued that in cleaning up the production, some of the atmosphere and bite of the earlier recording has been lost. When the quality is polished to BEHEMOTH-like levels, it is difficult to attain that nasty grit and chilling atmosphere that accompanies lower-fidelity black metal. Something which was present throughout the lower quality, earlier recording, but seems somewhat absent here.

Overall, this album is a solid effort and will appeal to different people in different ways. If you are a long-term BELPHEGOR faithful, the album is a labour of love, celebrating a pivotal moment in the band’s history. If you are a new fan, the modern production will make a classic more accessible to you. If you prefer your black metal raw and nasty, maybe stick with the original, as the cleanliness of this probably will not suit you. For everyone else, it’s definitely worth 35 minutes of the time of anyone who appreciates brutish, blackened nastiness.

Rating: 7/10

Necrodaemon Terrorsathan (re-release) is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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