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CULTES DES GHOULES
Henbane

Under The Sign Of Garazel Productions (2013)
Rating: 8/10

Featuring one of the best album introductions put to wax, Henbane is the stifling second opus from Polish black metal messiahs Cultes des Ghoules.

Having spent most of the 90s collecting all manner of black metal albums (and then getting rid of most of them!), I was fully expecting Henbane to be a rather dire affair, but it’s far from that. If anything, this is one of the best black metal albums I’ve heard for some time, a record that isn’t bogged down by irritating symphonics or pretending to be something it isn’t.

It was Fenriz from Darkthrone who stated that black metal nowadays is just bands attempting to rip off that early 90s style of playing, but there’s something distinctly ghoulish about this opus.

As well as that creepy introduction, Cultes des Ghoules have an ability to conjure up despicable atmospheres with their grating riffs and chugging rhythms. Thrown in the mix are twisted solos, fuzz-ridden hyper thrash-fests, rattling drums and some of the most vile vocals I’ve heard this side of early Darkthrone. Being a black metal bitch I was always charmed by the lo-fi nature of those utterly grim European acts of yesteryear, particularly fellow Poles Graveland, but Cultes des Ghoules offer something very different in their quest for brutality.

Firstly, this is a heavy album, not the sort that sounds as if it was recorded in a bathtub. Some of those chords on album opener ‘Idylls Of The Chosen Damned’ are almost Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) like in their doom-laden swirl, although for the most part the guitars sound as if they were played with crusty-laved fingers such as is their grim quality.

Second track ‘The Passion Of A Sorceress’ is a harrowing affair that relies on grating guitars and has an Isengard quality, particularly in that vocal yelp which ol’ Fenriz would be more than proud of.

It’s not often that one can say that a black metal album is unpredictable, but Henbane is just that, and despite offering just five tracks, this platter clocks in at just under the hour mark – although don’t think each track is a miserable drawn out affair, like so many doom records.

The aptly titled ‘Vintage Black Magic’ just about sums this album up. From its decrepit vocal summoning to those eerie drum plods, this is the sort of shadowy record I’ve been hoping for within the black metal genre. Forget all these bands trying to sound like Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult, Cultes des Ghoules are the sort of band one would expect to feature several orcs on guitar, bass and drums, and Gollum on vocals; such is the almost reptilian gurgle of Mark Of The Devil, the mysteriously named frontman.

This is a perverse little record that isn’t afraid to have a more crisp production in its quest for more satanic dynamics. Cultes des Ghoules provide an ideal mix of the melancholic, the melodic and the downright evil, and Henbane is the perfect soundtrack for a night in by the fire.

Neil Arnold

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