I’m a big fan of bands which comprise of three members (as regular readers will know), there’s something about the classic power trio, that when utilised correctly, makes for the combination. If you need proof then look no further than Budgie, Motörhead and Venom. Poland’s Upon The Altar are another (unholy) trinity who operate as a three-piece and they’ve been bursting eardrums since 2019. After a solid demo, album and split release we arrive at the band’s sophomore album, Descendants Of Evil, and it finds the band on an upward curve to release a career defining album.
That Descendants Of Evil sounds so accomplished really shouldn’t come as a surprise as all members have a long and varied career in the Polish underground music scene. Both bassist/guitarist bTo and vocalist/bassist Void destroyed stages together in Hell United whilst drummer/vocalist/guitarist Thisworld Outof currently plays in Kult Mogił, and it’s experience that’s brought to bear on opening shot ‘Baneful Benediction’. The band don’t feel the need to hit us immediately, rather a sombre intro tape create an eerie soundscape that lulls us into an altered state, before the band shock us back to reality with a quick uppercut. It makes their arrival all the more impactful. With a downright diabolical, demonic rumble, it sounds as if Upon The Altar have been dredging their riffs from the very depths of hell. Tracks such as ‘Horror Vacui’ aren’t made for the weak of constitution and circle the listener like a plague of evil spirits.
As with Deicide’s eponymous debut album, Venom’s Black Metal and Christian Death’s Sex & Drugs & Jesus Christ, it feels a bit dangerous to play Descendants Of Evil, as if the very act alone would conjure the Devil. In fact, the spasmodic guitar soloing on Malicious Holiness’ perfectly replicates the sound of a planchette moving wildly over an Ouija board. Maybe it is living under the yoke of an oppressive religious regime, but Poland is currently a hotbed for this kind of blasphemous blackened death metal, and they don’t come more sacrilegious than Upon The Altar. Play this album near your local church and you’d soon have the congregation running for cover and thing that the gates of hell hath opened and the devil’s spawn was running amok…which is exactly the effect a blackened death metal album should have.
Violent and bombastic, Upon The Altar have produced an album in Descendants Of Evil that is so dangerous it should really come with some kind of health warning…and warned you’ve been.
- Descendants Of Evil is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
- Upon The Altar Facebook
Track List:
- Baneful Benediction
- Horror Vacui
- Jaldabaoth’s Breath
- Unholy Follows
- Malicious Holiness
- Annunciation
- Descendants Of Evil
- Prolegomenon
