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MAJESTIC MASS
Destroys Minds & Rapes Souls

Helter Skelter Productions (2022)
Rating: 6.5/10

Combining a raw black metal rasp with doom metal, Majestic Mass issues its second sermon, the band’s first for four years. These Danes daub their altar in a strange brew of blackened heavy metal mixed with doomier aspects, circa Death SS and the likes.

Everything about Majestic Mass feels and sounds theatrical where there’s a clambering towards Uriah Heep with the keyboard aesthetics and throwback 70s vibe, and some may hear flashes of Black Magick SS in those sneers. But either way there’s occult-infused grooviness drenched in evil atmosphere and lo-fi oddness, and yet without lumbering out of its rather routine structure.

These are the sort of albums which you expect more from but which oh too quickly display a rather formulaic drudgery, albeit a catchy one particularly on my favourite track ‘Reigning Lawlessness’ with its bouncy organ and fuzzy riff.

The album is under 30 minutes in length and consists of six tracks – although ‘The First Coming’ is merely an intro. ‘Covenant (Rapists Of The Free Will)’ plays out like a borderline rock ‘n’ roll garage theme but with those scathing, raw vocals. Meanwhile, ‘I Am Your Earth’ rolls in mighty, meaty fashion but sticks almost stubbornly to its groove. And that’s the problem here; Majestic Mass is not the horrifying extravaganza I expected.

Elsewhere, ‘Lust & Fire’ is a creeping, fuzzed up trickle of whispering vocals and atmospheric keys, while closer ‘Apostles Of The Black Dawn’ again has that doomy roll mixed with formulaic organ, which is the theme throughout.

Destroys Minds & Rapes Souls is an okayish blackened rock ‘n’ roll album with an Italian vibe, although far less weird and with a limited shelf life.

Neil Arnold

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