Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 05:08 PM by Lilliana Tseka
Genre: Black / Death
Country: Belgium
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Year: 2015
The relentless quartet from Belgium has returned and annihilated everything. Possession is the band of the hour, which appears stronger and more settled than ever. They present their new album, entitled “1585 – 1646”, showing us their true orientation towards the ancient rituals, darkness and the poisonous black / death that infests us with the plague. The purpose of the “1585 – 1646” is to unravel the story of a witch, who lived in France during the era referred at the album’s title.
The album begins with the completely mystical piece “Obscurity – Visitation”, which is obviously divided into two parts. Initially, we have “Obscurity”. Rain, wind, bells tolling slowly and painfully, and a chanter (probably accompanied by a choir) is singing. If I am not mistaken, right before the guitar entry, you can actually listen to the sobbing of a young girl, so our thoughts are automatically targeted to the witch the band has chosen to praise. The nine-minute opus comes with an excessively addictive riff and sparse drum hits, telling you “something big is coming, beware”. Indeed, the continuity of the piece, ie the “Visitation” section, is staggering. Abysmal guitars and merciless drums compose an incredible track, and with the perfect mixing of the otherworldly vocals that seem to have some reverb, the track sounds even more extreme than it actually is. Lyrically, it turns out that we underwent a shift in time and now “monitor” the Devil’s visit to the witch, who offers her a pact and the witch unsurprisingly, doesn’t refuse it. Next track is “Ceremony”, which runs into more doom paths. Images of black-clothed hell priests with hoods walking into the forest while raining come to mind. Gradually the pace is increased and we end up with an ultrasonic gully, I guess in proportion to the development of the story, as we have now reached the Sabbath. Equally paranoid is the track “Guilty”. The drums sound as a machine gun and the cries of the singer slash us like a Machete. Investigators of the Inquisition torture the witch in order to make her repent and confess. Last track of the album is “Ablaze”, which essentially combines all the elements of previous songs, in order to close “1585 – 1646” in the best possible way. The shift in rhythm and the riff that comes after the fourth minute excites us, makes us slink to the rhythm. The riff is so deeply engraved in our minds now and nothing can take it from there. In the end, the witch is found guilty and burns in the “purifying” fire.
We are talking about a complete, solid saga. One way or another, Possession has never let us down with its releases. The more the time passes, the more mature their sound gets. Clearly, Possession belongs to the prominent bands of the genre, so we pray to the Prince of Darkness and the local bookers to finally give us the chance and see them perform live in our lands.
Those crazy about the unholy Black / Death genre and the fanatics of extreme compositions have just found their teacher. What we’re dealing here is one of the best records of the year. Don’t let it slip through your fingers. Give Possession the opportunity to show you how perfectly they spit in the face of God.
5.5 / 6
