### Inferno: Black devotion

#### 13/11/09 || cadenz

Intolerant Antihuman Black Metal. That’s what Inferno’s official website proclaims them to be. What to believe? Let’s press “Play”.

SwoooooooOOOOOOOOOOSHH!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Unholy Spirit, I welcome thee to the Black Mass. The deities, on this dark and fateful night, hungering to feed upon thine souls are known as Inferno, and shall henceforth be hailed upon as thine Grand Masters. For the next two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-six seconds, thou shalt suffer the piercing agony of a virgin Mary giving birth, the throes of Jesus hanging by the nails on the cross as well as God’s anguish and paternal grief whilst beholding the demise of His one and only son. This aural burst of phantasmagoric flames upon thine naked soul shall fill thy mind with the utmost and deepest blackness and send thy astral self on a journey through purgatory and beyond – to the very fires of Hell itself. Greet thy Masters, kneel and obey!

Imagine this being read by Christopher Lee with lots and lots of grand hall reverb as the intro track and think of how cool it could be. Then consider the odds of it turning out really, really, really horribly wrong. Yes, me-too-thinks Inferno chose the wiser (and cheaper) path of not hiring Mr. Saruman, no matter how fantastic he (and his voice) is.

So, still going strong despite the absence of Sir Lee, our Czechian Grand Masters Inferno are approaching veteran status in the black metal department, having been around for 13 years already. They’ve been quite productive as well, “Black Devotion” being their fifth full-length album besides four live albums, two “best of” compilations, three EPs, two demos and fifteen split releases. If that’s not a KVLT discography statistic, what is? Nothing, that’s right – bitch.

“Black Erection” is my first encounter with this band, and I have to say I hope it’s not the last. Inferno play straight-up black metal, no excuses – and they do it damn well. For the most part they’re going straight forward like a freight train without brakes, and they’ve got a good fucken driver as he can steer them in the right direction even at a furious pace. Now what does that mean in Non-Metaphorical? Well, the Karviná Hraniceans’ (yes, that’s where they’re from) instrument-handling skills are immaculate as everything is flawlessly executed and they still manage to create a nice and evil groove as a band, and they have done a great job arranging the songs to find a good balance between harsh and melodic parts.

Everything about this record sounds very 90s, which is a good sign in my book. The chord progressions, harmonies, melodies and drum beats remind me of the good ol’ darken days of yore, when Dark Funeral’s self-titled EP, Marduk’s first couple of albums and especially the BM crown jewel “De mysteriis dom Sathanas” were the hot shit. No matter what kind of music the band comes up with – dissonant tremolo licks, soaring and harmonic melodies or evil and nasty thrash riffing – it all goes through the Filter Of Satan and comes out blackened and taints the very air by its presence, and plants the seeds of emerging strength through the dark arts in the minds of anyone who happens to hear it. Some are strong enough of mind to both perceive and analyze the message, and fewer still are able to make use of the black energy passed onto them, to revitalize themselves and purify their minds through it, and to use it as a tool for aiding their journey to ascendency, to divinity.

If pure, malignant, well-played, harsh and melodic black metal sounds anything up your alley, give “Black Devotion” a try. This is how it should be written. This is how it should be done.

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Agonia
- Website: www.pureinferno.com
- Band
- Adramelech: vocals
- Carpath: guitars
- Ska-Gul: guitars
- Pentaroth: bass
- Sarapis: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Prolog
- 02. Superior Will
- 03. Whisper of Hope in Bloody Tears
- 04. Holy Poison
- 05. Eaten by Rats Forever
- 06. Loyality of Honour
- 07. Altar of Perversity
- 08. Message to Ages
- 09. Sign of Hell
- 10. Way to Illumination Lies in Darkness
- 11. Epilog