Underground Sounds: Caïna – Christ Clad in White Phosphorus

Label: Apocalyptic Witchcraft Recordings
Band: Caïna
Origin: United Kingdom

It’s been a ride for Caïna with their special kind of black metal. The band has bene active for a good decade now and seems to blend together different sounds into their own production. Their latest album is a testament to a unique sound.

No two albums bij Caïna have been the same and so this record is a welcome change. Though heavily connected to the punk scene, a testament of that may be their recent split release with Esotheric Youth, this record appears to take on more of that old black metal vibe… but that´s only if you sample some tracks.

Towards the end of track 3, ´Fumes of God´, we start hearing the strange synths. Were they there all the time? If you listen closely, maybe they were because the post black metal elements are clearly somewhere hidden. The song following, titled ‘Throat of the World’, is a track full of harrowing ambient-like efforts. The band received support by Belgian horror soundtrackers Vermapyre for this effort. It’s a highly effective in setting the mood with its banging, clanging haunted house effects.

It’s not the only time the band incorporates noise elements, on ‘Pillars of Salt’ the noise artist Warren Schoenbright is added to the club to create a wild, almost jazzy like track. A bit King Crimson playing freejazz on a cemetary I suppose. When the gentlemen of Caïna are not frolicking about with these intermezzo’s, the sound is thunderous, overwhelming and bleak. It’s music that feels like an icy blaze of sonic hail. Add to that a flavor of gothy new wave elements, because there’s stuff happening all the time on this album. It reminds me of Taake and Nihill alike, complete chaos!

There’s plenty of influences on this album that allows the group to tell its story. Industrial and noise are part of the modern day wasteland that seems to be expressed in their work. Add to that wild vocals that range from guttural to piercing, always unnerving the listeners. This is one hell of a record and I don’t think I’ll tire of this one anytime soon.

3 thoughts on “Underground Sounds: Caïna – Christ Clad in White Phosphorus”

Leave a Reply