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A HILL TO DIE UPON
Holy Despair

Bombworks (2014)
Rating: 8.5/10

It may interest some to know that A Hill To Die Upon are a Christian extreme metal band, although that shouldn’t be relevant, especially once one has experienced the second album from this American black / death metal band.

Now, these guys formed in 2004 when brothers Michael and Adam Cook put their heads together, and five years later they released their epic debut platter, Infinite Titanic Immortal. In 2011 they followed this up with the less impressive Omens, and now we have the third instalment; the crushing menace of Holy Despair.

It shouldn’t matter what your beliefs are, because when the music is this good A Hill To Die Upon deserve to be in your collection, especially if you are a fan of weighty, fleshy black metal with a death metal slant. The reason the Illinois-based band are such a titan is down to the ashen vocal rasps and doom-laden guitar sound, which is supplemented by the heavy percussion. As a force, these guys rely heavily on their slower passages and clever, evocative lyrics which always seem to tell a vast story.

Those of you expecting rather generic black metal lyrics may find some real intrigue and learn something in the likes of the complex ‘A Jester Arrayed In Burning Gold’, which reads like some vast ancient scripture: “Share not the cup I have wantonly sipped, the cradle that has been finally tipped. In fool’s garb do I before thee appear, with signs and sounds fit for stirring fear. Yet the mask hides what is truly between, my emerald eyes and the jewels that are seen”.

Musically, A Hill To Die Upon is still quality black metal. A track such as ‘Let The Ravens Have My Eyes’ features those familiar cutting riffs and frenetic drums one would associate with, say, Poland’s Behemoth, but there’s so much to this record which is comfortable jarring the senses as it is rattling the bones with thrashier sections.

The aforementioned ‘A Jester Arrayed In Burning Gold’ arrogantly stomps all over the competition with a stark warning of thunderous, chugging drums and sprawling guitar sound, while ‘Nekyia’ simmers and yet in one quick gesture swipes away Behemoth as if they were mere forms of dust.

Slow, ponderous and ominous, ‘Nekyia’ – as with every other track on this ten-track album – is such a pounding march of Christian belief and defiance in the face of adversity that one cannot but dive headlong into these songs and become enriched by them lyrically and musically. “Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born, the new birth beats on the walls of the womb of the world. Crawling fourth on four, the earth is torn by claws, and two thousand year old horns”, is the words of ‘Nekyia’ upon the strain of pallid guitars. Meanwhile, ‘Satan Speaks’ – based on the C.S. Lewis poem of the same name – rises like some vast beacon of light smothering the blackness with the masterful closing couplet of “I am Satan, accuser accursed. Heed not my words, I was not first”.

Holy Despair offers so much depth and intelligence that a majority of black metal bands in their unholy ignorance should take heed, because A Hill To Die Upon may not be the anti-Gods you’ve had rammed down your throats for decades, but as black metal musicians they are the new messiahs on the block.

Neil Arnold

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