ALBUM REVIEW: Upharsin – Blaze Of Perdition
Although they have been active in some capacity since 2004, BLAZE OF PERDITION didn’t really come to wider attention within the black metal scene until the release of their debut album Towards The Blaze Of Perdition in 2010. Each of their albums since have built upon the incredibly solid foundations that the band set for themselves in their primordial days – with each of their records showing a sharper and more powerful twist on their sound – and their blend of tight melodicism and unerring aggression has cemented the band as one of the most impressive black metal acts not just in their native Poland, but across the world. Their latest, fifth album, Upharsin, is yet another creative triumph, accentuating the band’s underlying epic edge and expansive approach to songwriting to make this one of their most dramatic and grandiose efforts to date.
W Kwiecie Rozłamu jumps straight into an acerbic mix of snarling vocals, slick, soaring guitars and intricate drums, with denser, bleaker hooks slowly creeping into the sound as the song progresses. It strikes a fine balance between cavernous, dramatic sections and moments that match up effectively with the abrasive vocals, which provide a consistently visceral touchstone for the rest of the music throughout, resulting in a song that is belligerent and grandiose in equal measure. Przez Rany couples the expansive sound of the opener with subtle discordance and a thicker guitar and bass sound, creating an imposing, rhythmic feel early on, with the sinister, acidic vocals and pummelling percussion beefing up the already substantial sound. Powerful backing vocals and minimalistic, epic melodicism add further layers to the mix, and although the leads aren’t as animated as they are on the previous track, they still inject a great contrast into the music that makes them stand out from the weightier edge of everything else.
Niezmywalne distinguishes itself with its polished, lighter sound, built around ethereal guitar work and energetic drumming, and playing to the band’s excellent, atmosphere-drenched sound. The vocals, as always, carve through the rest of the music like a rusty blade, adding a savage and vitriolic counterpoint to the monolithic riffs and speed-driven touches, taking the best of classic black metal and repurposing it into an awe-inspiring template. Architekt serves as a slower offering that allows for a more layered sound, with the rumbling drums acting as a great backbone around which the rest of the music is interwoven, from the blistering guitar hooks to the bubbling bass to the bestial vocals. It retains the gargantuan style that was present on the preceding song, but ensures that the music is intricate and varied on all fronts, ebbing and flowing between a mid-paced dirge and chaotic, feral aggression to transform this into a diverse and impressive effort.
Młot, Miecz I Bat carries forward the fast and furious intensity of the last song and pushes it to ever more vicious extremes, twisting the angular melodies that feature throughout most of this album towards a biting and noxious style that suits the darker, fierce nature of this song. In amongst these cacophonous and feral components, there’s a softer, almost post-rock side to the sound that occasionally rises to the surface, creating some haunting interludes that break up the unrelenting tempo and caustic bulk of the track, with a stunning, virtuosic solo heralding the song’s powerful climactic moments before gradually fading away and bringing the album to a close in a slightly sudden and anti-climactic fashion.
Stylistically, Upharsin stands apart from much of the band’s back catalogue, with its more atmospheric approach to the music and production and fewer, longer form tracks creating a much more hypnotic offering than almost everything that has preceded it. In its grandiosity and ambitious compositions, it perhaps bears the most similarities to 2017’s Conscious Darkness, but with one key difference: the harsher elements that punctuate the soaring, cavernous backdrop of the music feel that much more forceful and abrasive, counterpointing the ethereal touches with a fiercer, more visceral side that makes the music feel more sinister here. But above all, this measures up to the high benchmark that the band have set for themselves with their previous work, and in a lot of ways, manages to surpass all but their very best material in the process.
Rating: 9/10
Upharsin is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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