Now celebrating their tenth year as a band, Istanbul’s Persecutory celebrate this milestone in the best possible way, namely with a blistering three-track EP. The line-up changes and reconfigurations which can often plague a black/death metal band have only served to galvanise this crew and has resulted in an apocalyptic sound that swings like Satan’s scythe. Following the success of 2022’s Summoning The Lawless Legions album, the band hit us with another blast of sonic brutality, this time in the shape of The Glorious Persecution, an EP so caustic and bombastic that it should really come with some kind of health warning.
Attesting to a heightened sense of urgency, this EP doesn’t throw feints or sucker punches, there’s just a thunderous drum roll, the sound of a Nordic sky unleashing a tempest and then the band are off, head’s down to deliver a bombastic brand of blackened death. Some music is so awe-inspiring that it stops you in your tracks and makes you re-evaluate everything you thought you knew about music and opening shot ‘Infernal Gateways To Watchers’ is a prime example. Everything is amped up to the extreme; the guitar is razor sharp and slices through the air like a knife through flesh, the rhythm section is unrelenting, while the vocals are caustic and bubble like a body dissolving in acid. It all adds up to an extreme listening experience, but when a band is called Persecutory you kind of knew that on the way in.
Over the course of the past decade Persecutory have been a group in constant evolution (as all good bands should be) and from their rather rudimentary beginnings and three-minute blasts have really spread their wings and have taken on progressive elements to become a truly unique band. ‘Ecstatic Demonlords’ picks up when the opening shot left off, and like wheels within wheels, is a track in constant motion and is almost organic in nature. There’s something about the combination of music and words that makes Persecutory’s songs very cinematic; they take the listener on a journey and plant strong images in the mind’s eye and the introduction of some haunting backing vocals really creates a sense of time and place. It’s a something that not many bands can achieve and it is this which elevates Persecutory above their peers.
Persecutory have a multilayered sound that’s deep and rich in symbolism which means that one listen to this EP will never be enough; it’s the kind of release that will reward repeat spins as subtle nuances buried in the mix will reveal themselves on successive spins, but when the music is as good as that found on The Glorious Persecution, that’s no real hardship.
- The Glorious Persecution is released via Godz Ov War Productions and is available now (from here).
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Track List:
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Infernal Gateways To Watchers
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Ecstatic Demonlords
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The Glorious Persecution
