Originally formed in 2018 as Black Ejaculate (under which moniker they released the equally provocatively-tilted Cum Soaked Messiah), a name change to Black Eucharist found this three-piece honing their sound into the ultimate distillation of black metal. Inn Of The Vaticide is a wonderfully blasphemous album, at times misanthropic and others downright perverted, this album sets the standard for others to follow.

Opening with some choice Biblical quotes, ‘Black Ejaculate’ is driven forth by a heavy bass rumble, and the words and music combine to make for a startling listen. It’s arresting, and ensures your focus is drawn directly to the music. A doomy, Sabbathy riff suggests that this is going to be a heavy listen and it sets the template for the coming 35 minutes. After this unsettling introduction we move into more familiar black metal territory with the band arriving like a crack of lightning piercing an angry, leaden sky. The vocals are suitably demonic and delivered with a Satanic shriek while the drums are equally occultist and sound as if they are played by a spirit channelled from the netherworld. It all adds up to a bombastic listen, and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Although Norway is (quite rightly) considered the epicentre of black metal, it is now a truly global movement with scenes flourishing in almost every nation. However, some environments seem more conducive to the dark arts, and that’s especially so in the north of America. With its history of seventeenth-century witch trials (and more recently the 1980’s Satanic panic) it is as if its soil is fertile for a band such as Black Eucharist. They definitely tap into that whole aesthetic with a spooky sound that’s sure to get the hairs raised on the nape of your neck, and my advice is to keep the lights on when listening to tracks such as ‘Drowned Flock’.

Black Eucharist are an unholy trinity, three musicians who sound absolutely massive, and aided by a focused production, feels as if they are raising hell in your living room. Yet, the band aren’t all brutal attack and ‘The Soiled Crucifix’ is a sinister instrumental with which to cast a dark spell and act as a foil to make the heaviness that cushions it all the more heavier. However, bombastic black metal is what Black Eucharist do best, and there’s plenty of that on offer. If you want to know what it’s like lying in a grave and to have dirt shovelled over you, then I suggest you listen to closer ‘A Foul Stench Lingers At Peor’. It tumbles over the listener like a landslide and shuts out all the light like a total eclipse blackening the sun.

There’s a healthy underground black metal scene bubbling away in the United States but Black Eucharist seem certain to drag that scene screaming into the light. If you like your black metal sacrilegious, Satanic and magniloquent then this mob are for you!

• Inn Of The Vaticide is released via Godz Ov War and is available now (from here).

Track List:

1. Black Eucharist
2. Deflowering Jerusalem
3. Drowned Flock
4. Inn Of The Vaticide
5. The Soiled Crucifix
6. Broken Staff Of The Shepherd
7. Ziziphus Paliurus
8. A Foul Stench Lingers At Peor