Ceremonial Castings - Barbaric is the Beast (2006)

In 2006, the brothers Superchi followed up Immortal Black Art with Barbaric is the Beast, which marked a major depature in the production style from the past Ceremonial Castings albums to great success.

The album opens with the killer title track and within the first minute the change in the sound is apparent - the guitars, the drums and the keyboards have all changed from the full and powerful (as far as black metal goes) sound heard in the earlier albums to a much more empty and raw sound. Lord Serpent once again employs his full vocal range from his guttural death vocals to his classic black metal vocals, combining them to great effect to sing some truly blasphemous lyrics:

Rise Oh Great One, Indulge In The Womb Of Virgins' Blood
Desire The Hunt, The Hunt That Draws The Flesh Of Reconciliation

Awake From Your Slumber, The Time Has Come To Regain The Throne.
Rise within The Shadows, Strike Upon The Breast Of Hope

Most of the album is of similar quality, though three other tracks really stand out. The first is "Our Journey Through Forever", a 13 minute rerecording of the opus off of Universal Funeral March, a truly transcendental song. Second is "Speak in Tongues", a great song reminiscent of something off of Immortal Black Art, complete with Latin lyrics and backwards singing. Lastly is the closer "Sweet Misery I Forsee", a half ambient, half black metal epic singing to the glory of misery. Beautiful.

This is classic Ceremonial Castings, pure and simple. If you have liked anything these guys have released in the past (or future to include Salem 1692) then Barbaric is the Beast will not disappoint you. Happy Hollowe'en.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10] (I Am of Fire, We Are of Fire, Fire Eternal, Fire is Death)

http://www.myspace.com/ceremonialcastings

Ceremonial Castings - Immortal Black Art (2005)

Thanks to the review of Ceremonial Castings newest album Salem 1692, I decided to look into their back catalogue. And this is when I came upon the 2005 album Immortal Black Art, a low-fi symphonic black metal album quite similar to Salem 1692 in many respects.

The album starts off with my favourite song of the album, the fast and thrashy "Come Forth... Damnation". After that we are treated to "Desecration of Grace" which is probably my second favourite song on the album because of the lyrics that are just way too catchy:

I am The Devil & The Devil is Me
For the only Devil in existence is Man
We are what we are if we are free
Otherwise slaves to the Holy Hand

I am The Savior & The Savior is Me
If you believe there is a Savior at all
I'll sell my soul because nothing is free
To see the celebration of Salvation's Fall

Next comes the title track and it's sadly not the best song on the album, at least not until the later half when the weird chorus is dropped and Lord Serpent starts to mix his screams and his clean vocals to create a really great cosmic sound vocal effect. "Human Slave Infantry" is a straight up thrashy black metal song that, while good, is pretty forgettable. Then we have the first instrumental of the album, "Of Warriors who Gather". It's a synth-heavy song, filled with Old Nick's signature style of low-fi synths that just sound fucking awesome. "Reborn Through the Bestial Flame" is another great track with some cool riffs. "The Miracle of Bleeding" is a fast little song, nothing too special... unless you listen to this song with some good headphones because then you're able to hear the insanely brutal bass drum in all it's thundering glory that is reminiscent of a giant golem aimlessly stomping across the land. "Propagating the Witch" is a great song about having sex with a witch, which would have been good enough for me, but the solo (read: the climax) that starts at 2:03 is something out of this world. A neat cover of "Transilvanian Hunger" and an acoustic/synth instrumental titled "Post Storm Silence" finish off the record.

If you've heard any of the later Ceremonial Castings albums then you can expect the same style/sound/quality of the guitars and synths, but I felt that, unlike Salem 1692, there weren't as many catchy riffs though what was there was very well done. On the other hand the vocals done by Lord Serpent confuse me as to why they opted to go for the less-polished Norwegian style of vocals for the later two albums when the vocals on this album were in my opinion near perfect. Another thing I would like to mention is that too many of the songs seemed to have outros that lasted forever, something that bugged me a bit the first time listening to the album.

Overall I really enjoyed this album. While it's hard to go backwards through an artist's discography, I felt that Immortal Black Art gave us an easier album to just sit down and mindlessly listen to than the amazing concept album Salem 1692 (an album that I view as Ceremonial Castings best album ever).

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/ceremonialcastings

Ceremonial Castings - Salem 1692 (2008)

I don't usually think of lofi symphonic black/death metal when I think of Washington, but Ceremonial Castings are out to change that. This is their sixth album in as many years, and, while I'm not too familiar with the previous releases (although I vaguely remember disliking them at one point), it seems as if they've come into their own with Salem 1692.

Lofi, eh? While they do have a stark, biting production, that was actually more in reference to their choice of synths. Rather than going the lush Dimmu route like just about every symphonic black metal band ever, these blokes opted for a very unpolished, simple approach with their keys. I really have to commend them for their choice on this matter, as they picked some absolutely cool sounds. Some of the synths actually made me think of Metroid Prime and Ocarina of Time, and it totally works. As for the rest of the music, Ceremonial Castings play a brutal, punishing form of black metal. The album is rather harsh and invigorating. While some of the riffs are a bit on the plain side, they generally keep up a solid front, sometimes (although not enough) even breaking into pretty rad technical sections.

I have one problem with this album, however - most of the vocals are rubbish. The black metal screeches just don't blend in with the music on most of the songs. He gets it right some of the time, for sure, but the style he uses the most is far too grating. Also, the female vocals that come in every now and then are just bad. They take a decent approach with these, but whoever did them just doesn't have it down. It really doesn't help when they put in pretty damn good male choirs on "Damned Be Those of the Craft," either.

There's a lot of good to be found on this album, especially if you're willing to overlook some poorly done vocal sections. I could see this band putting out something amazing in the near future.

Verdict: Win [4/5]

http://www.myspace.com/ceremonialcastings