LVCIFYRE - Sun Eater (2014)

Genre: death metal

Label: Dark Descent Records

Rating: 9/10

I'm not a big death metal fan, but this album is dark, oppressive in a true sense, and on tracks 1-4 and 9, Mark of the Devil (from Cultes des Ghoules) guest stars on vocals. He does an amazing job on track one, "Night Sea Sorcery," in the intro. Then all hell breaks loose. The bass comes in frantic and distorted, playing a chaotic rhythm that the guitars soon join in on as the vocallists battle it out. The riff the guitars are playing just adds to that sense of impending death that was otherwise coming from the vocallists' throats. Around the 7:15 mark, palm-muted tremolo goodness comes in. You know you're a talented musician when you can get me to like death metal this much. I think track two, "Calicem Obscurum," might be my favourite track off the album. I like my death metal dark, and that's apparently what Lvcifyre does best.

"Liber Lilith" begins perfectly, with Mark of the Devil letting out a raw scream. It is a dark ride, this one. The riffage/picking rhythm at 2:26 is of particular worth, I think. The bass parts to this song, nay, this album, are all fantastic. Well thought out, they are played in such a way as to serve the greater darkness - it swallows you. On the title track, it starts out as a work-out for the right hand, and then has this slower riff that sticks in your head. Then all that rapid downstroke palm muting... awesome. "In Fornication Waters" is a swift kick in the teeth. "Nekuomanteion" is sort of bipolar, but not depressed and manic, more like seething and apoplectic. "Fiery Spheres of the Seven" goes straight to LUDICROUS SPEED, then calms down...I mean that relatively. It makes perfect sense towards the end. "Fyre Made Flesh" is just out-and-out a killer track, it tears your face off like a starving Rottweiler. Finally, in "Sinister Calling," the second longest song on the album, MotD appears again, especially in the intro when they chant-scream SANCTUM SATANAS. Perfect! The song closes with the lyrics "NYTHRA KTHUNAE ATAZOTH/To the World Beyond/.........Dark Lords Beckon........" A demonic ending to a demonic album.

What Lvcifyre manages to do with this album and its prolixity (I mean that in a positive way) in a mere 49 minutes is just amazing. This album is such that you hope to hear something like this in hell. Satan wouldn't be as fun without Sun Eater. I implore you to get this album, which you can do so here or through Dark Descent Records's website, which I recommend if you're in North America (very reliable label).

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