Psalms of Perdition

It is a fact that the scene of the United Kingdom is small but the few bands created every now and then, at least they attract the attention of the listeners, either positively or negatively. Subvertio Deus is a band of the British Black Metal scene which was formed in 2005 and it consists of three members. They released a demo in 2008 and the full length “Psalms of Perdition” the same year and, if I’m not wrong, they disbanded this year (2012). “Psalms of Perdition” contains seven compositions, the three of which are instrumental tracks, of duration of sixty six minutes and you can easily understand also by the beautiful artwork, Subvertio Deus play that which during the last few years is known as “Orthodox” Black Metal, with many influences from bands of that genre and mainly Deathspell Omega.

The riffs have much variety, we will listen to heavy, rhythmic riffs, a lot of disharmonic almost eerie melodies, fast, typical Black Metal riffs and in many passages the band lowers the pace, flirting with Funeral Doom. Concerning the quality of the riffs, after listening to the album a few times I’m still divided as there are very interesting riffs as also very boring ones. This feeling may also be due to the huge in duration compositions, which reach seventeen minutes. As you understand so big compositions in order to keep the listener’s interest should have awesome riffing and perfect structure, something that although they tried to do it, they didn’t manage to achieve it completely. The guitars are those which play the first role into the compositions and they are played with accuracy delivering the feeling well. The bass can’t be heard clearly except from a few parts but generally it fills the sound nicely. The drums have interesting lines, quite a lot of changes, turnings and solos which make the total result more interesting.

The vocals are heavy, hoarse Black Metal vocals, while depending on the feeling they become harsh or even brutal screams of pain and despair. The production is clean and bassy, it puts out a very powerful and heavy sound which highlights the compositions. The mix adds the depth and the massive sound that the compositions need, so in combination with the production we have a very good sound result. The lyrics are written in English and they don’t escape the clichés of the genre that is the filosophical search and the theistic interpretation of Satanism, quoting phrases of the apostles or of other “known” christians.

Generally, “Psalms of Perdition” has both positive and negative elements. Musically there are some very nice and satisfying ideas for sure. However the huge tracks and some boring parts somehow ruin the experience. Also the absence of personality and their great similarity with other known in the genre bands is an important disadvantage. If the absence of personality doesn’t bother you and you searching “Orthodox” Black Metal a lot, then buy this album, you will like it for sure. The rest of you prefer something else.