Rating: 9.5

Country: Colombia

Release Date: 2007

Record Label: No Colours

Track list:
1. Ancient Monumental War Hymn
2. Nocturnal Gatherings and Wicked Rites
3. Strike of the Morning Star
4. Through the Infinite Sphere Our Majesty Shall Rise
5. Infernal Evocation of Torment
6. Where Darkness is Lord and Death the Beginning
7. Nefarious Dismal Orations
8. Enter the Cult
9. Before the Symbol of Satan We Bow and Praise

Total playing time 46:01

Band Website: Inquisition

Inquisition - Nefarious Dismal Orations

Dagon - guitars/vocals
Incubus - drums

Though having been released as far back as March of '07, consider this a better late than never review. Something of an enigma, Inquisition's sound has always transcended beyond anything that could be conceived as remotely "human." Picture members of Darkthrone and Immortal if they were actually members of an archaic alien race that crash landed here on Earth billions of years ago. Then they set up a highly sophisticated programming network miles below ground amidst the icy, pitch black abyss in an attempt to communicate with the pentagram shaped mothership that looms ominously somewhere in the infinite universe. Lo and behold, someone in the Pentagon accidentally stumbles upon one of these strange, chill inducing transmissions full of indecipherable croaking and hypnotic droning (hence, this very CD that I'm reviewing! ha, ha) which then sets the tone for the world's greatest sci fi movie events of all time. Now granted at the very core, musically it's nothing more than your average minimalist take on Satanic Black Metal that shares the same ideological philosophy in both execution and mindset as say, Profanatica or early Gorgoroth but what sets Inquisition apart from the rest of the pack is its creepy, otherworldly vibe which is achieved on so many levels.

First, the vocals. Although never straying far beyond a low monotone robotic chant throughout, Dagon's voice serves as a commanding beacon which resonates with a trance inducing effect on songs like "Through the Infinite Sphere Our Majesty Shall Rise," "Infernal Evocation of Torment," "Where Darkness is Lord and Death the Beginning." It is even during the more subdued tranquillity during the slower, downbeat parts of those songs where you get the impression that his entire being is nothing more than a vessel for which some ancient pagan god is speaking through. Either that or copious amounts of various substances were consumed at the time of this recording in order to achieve the vibe they were going for. Indeed the journey at times feels like a revelation or epiphany or sorts one would obtain during a lengthy LSD trip. In fact, I'd even dare to say that if there was indeed the quintessental Black Metal disc for stoners, this would certainly be it. But I digress..

As for the performance, repetition plays a key factor here in the riffing department which again brings some of the trademark hypnosis of Darkthrone, or even Burzum especially during the slower to midpaced moments, "Before the Symbol of Satan We Bow and Praise," "Strike of the Morning Star," and the title track. Furthermore when coupled with the creepy vocals, it feels at times like a black and white avant garde horror film based on one's nightmares. While the recording is distinctly lo fi, everything including the drums are still very audible and thankfully nothing comes across as a half assed backdrop wall of sound which seems to be prevalent in about 98% of all basement black metal bands today. In fact, whereas the guitars often sound like the lifeless buzzing of insects or industrial tools, here the riffs are actually thickly layered and crunchy which obviously borrows a lot from traditional thrash influences than black metal but still retain enough of BM's discordant aesthetics. Thus the faster, militant warmarches like, "Ancient Monumental War Hymn," and "Nocturnal Gatherings and Wicked Rites" are given a more vibrant, robust feel similar to the anthemic call-to-arms moments of Slayer or Possessed, especially when Dagon sees fit to unleash a startling brief guitar solo on occasion. Furthermore the drum performance during the faster songs despite coming across stiff and mechanical at times like on Immortal's early CDs still manages to lend a powerful charge which at times sounds like the distant rat-a-tat of machine guns going off in the distance.

Of course seeing as this is 2008 and by now, the Black Metal genre has practically utilized every element, influence, techniques, etc. to expand beyond its seemingly tight parameters, Inquisition serves as a shining example that there's still enough life left in the corpse. If nothing else, they prove that indeed less is more and that it doesn't take an expensive recording budget, guest musicians, and tarted up female vocalist to get your point across.
Hail Satan!

May 5th, 2008