Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft
Band: The Antichrist Imperium
Origin: United Kingdom

Here they are again, the all-star prog black metallers from The Antichrist Imperium, who made waves with their saucy album cover on the self-titled 2015 debut. With ‘Volume II: Every Tongue Shall Praise Satan’, they return to strength and deliver a brimming ball of dark, extreme metal to the forefront that will probably rock many socks of and so forth, because yes… it’s as good as you’d hope.

Featuring members who play or have played in entities like Akercocke, My Dying Bride, The Berzerker, Voices and much, much more, you know that there’s some talent in there. It would appear this is also the whole pile of influences that shape the sound of this project, which really feels hard to pin down with anything but the word extreme. So, let’s get into it then.

Opening with thick, punching drums that reek of death metal, the band also picks up a melodic grandeur you’ll find in the more epic melo-death and black metal bands. Ominous intermezzo’s fall in the gaps, before guttural barks unleash again on the listener. From ‘The Dreadfull Hosanna’ onwards, the band never shies away from pure, unadulterated force and complexity with guitars that cut like knives and flutter like butterflies… with wings made out of … knives? I mean, it’s proggy, yet brutal.

On ‘Liturgy of the Iconoclast / Blood Sacrifice’ we actually go in all directions. From dramatic prog passages to bludgeoning death metal destruction, with vigorous riffing. The cool, smooth complex parts show an aptitude for the bigger narrative, to really paint images with the music, which the band does very well. The playful use of the vocals is definitely also an added quality of Sam Bean and Sam Loyens, who bounce of each other like two voice actors at times.