A Review of Septicflesh: Communion

An Insight into Septicflesh’s Latest Album on Season of Mist Records

Sep 15, 2008

The piquant latest album from Greece's metal maestros Septicflesh proves their case a strong one and maybe a spot in a few top ten lists at the end of the year.

Greek purveyors of fine darkened metal Septicflesh (Yes that’s right; they have for unknown reasons omitted the space between the two words to make a single word name) have delivered again with Communion. Also the band sport a resolve with strong live performances across the board in 2008. Will this latest album conform to the bands ability to write engaging material?

The Greek Metal Concept Album: Communion

Communion is a concept album with songs based on contact with the celestial, the otherworldly and how the human fascination with this topic has developed and manifested itself. Figures such as Anubis the ancient Egyptian god and H.P. Lovecraft are subjects of songs and how one designates admittance to this realm of the surreal and how one had contact with such a realm to create such fiction.

For those not familiar with Septicflesh, try imagining a Nile and Behemoth style Egyptian inspired atmosphere, a real conjuration of ancient civilization, but applied to a cleaner cut hybrid black/death/dark metal template. The title track, and the songs ‘Babel’s Gate’ and ‘We, The Gods’ would be closest to death metal, while ‘Anubis’ and ‘Sunlight/Moonlight’ are almost ballads.

‘Sunlight/Moonlight’ is a melody driven powerhouse of a track that resonates on higher levels. ‘Sangreal’ is a rumbling and dust-covered monster symbiotic with lucid visions of grand imagination. ‘Narcissus’ is a musically uplifting rendition of a tragic love story and is a apt and strong track to end on.

The diversity of sounds across the nine songs may deter some, but a consistent epic sand-blasted vibe inhabits every corner of this record. ‘Lovecraft’s Death’ could easily be on Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (2001) by Dimmu Borgir and the following track ‘Anubis’ sounds akin to many an Amorphis track. Audio antiquities (similar to those used by Nile and Behemoth to great effect as a musical time-machine) are also present on Communion.

Featuring songs about history and fantasy the sound to match it is equally adventurous - the orchestral element that adorns Communion is very effective, reminiscent of mid 20th century movie epics like Ben Hur (1959) or Spartacus (1960) and the progressive element that is stronger on the latter half or the album is definitely intelligent exploration similar to The Devin Townsend Band.

An endearing and refreshing album on the whole with few flaws but does wander a little and concentration is lost for moments across the record. Definitely one to check out for those even remotely interested in this area of metal - Communion is a very resilient album.

The copyright of the article A Review of Septicflesh: Communion in Death/Black Metal is owned by Tom Findlay. Permission to republish A Review of Septicflesh: Communion in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.