This is one of those splits that we feel speechless when we listen to. Imagine putting together Promethean Gate, one of the most prominent Black Metal bands from Sao Paulo (BRA) and on the other side you have the witch Lilita Arndt, from Ukraine (UKR), leader of Ieschure. hey got together to release a high anticipated split from Hammer Of Damnation entitled Witch’s Consecration. And it doesn’t come alone: you have the option to get t-shirts and the split, with the ISO 666 quality that only Hammer Of damnation and Black Metal Store can offer.
Split starts one of the tracks titled “Witch’s Consecration“. Altogether there are three and they appear at opportune moments in the split and are not there by chance. Each interlude of this one connects with the previous and subsequent tracks, creating a web of meanings and sound sensations. The Promethean Gate tracks already feature the new lineup led by Alex Sanchez who for a long time was a solo member of Promethean Gate. The tracks are dark and quite dark, but endowed with a lot of atmosphere, in this sense, I highlight “The Triumph of Power (The Rebirth of Man)” which has a lot of heavy elements, keyboard atmosphere and several passages with tremolo in the right measure. On this track we have us howling vocals and also more vocalized and several hauting screaming, it’s a mix that I like a lot in Promethan Gate, as it gives Sanchez the ability to migrate between musical interludes very easily and imprinting his stamp regardless of the musical moment.
“Flame Of Hades” has aggressive passages, but it also has fragments that look like a mantra. There is a more lilting instrumental loop that contrasts with the brawl that follows. And in “The Triumph of Power (The Will to Sacrifice)“, surrounded by majestic keyboards, we have a lot of harmony and the parallel of a strong black metal, dark and with many vocal variations. What is already a mark in Promethean Gate since “The Plague Wilder“.
After another interlude we have the dilemma between life and death, suffering and a flag of hatred for humanity that seems to take refuge from its true face. Ieschure unloads a melody sequence, desire for suffering and all this washed down by a battery that doesn’t stop, Lilita’s roars of “please, die“, it really makes us want to die, hope is a non-existent place here and we are forced to live in eternal agony.
The dialogue between Lilita’s clean voices and the ghostly and agonizing howls give an atmosphere of obscurantism, which is accentuated by the cutting guitars of the first wave of European Black Metal. Iechure was the missing band in the underground world and now that we found it…. The sequel is relentless with one of my favorite Ieschure tracks, “Phantom of God“. Faith goes hand in hand with a lack of faith and the despair of an answer that doesn’t come. What we have in the spirit world exists in its magnitude or just nothing and its absence empowers a ghost of what God would be. The guitars and drums seem in perfect harmony here…I highlight the screamed vocals that rise as the guitar tremolos rise. It’s quite impressive how Ieschure manages to play with our senses and puts us in Lilita’s shoes, questioning everything that is sacred, vivid and valued in the modern world.
The acoustic but no less disturbing “In the Arms of Fate” ends the split with a clean voice passage and acoustic strands. Both projects have a lot to offer, but nothing compares to the strength of having them together laying the foundations of Black metal against the modern world. This split is a rescue to the cultural ancestry of what Black Metal was in the early years, and this split is an affirmation that Black Metal crime art is for a few, and this they prove with excellence.
Rate: 666
You can order the split HERE!
You can order the split + Promethean Gate T-shirt HERE!
You can order the split + Ieschure T-shirt HERE!
