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SIDIOUS
Revealed In Profane Splendour

Kaotoxin (2014)
Rating: 8/10

London black metallers Sidious formed in 2009 as Seeds Of Detest, but altered their moniker in 2012. Since then the band has released a decent debut EP in the form of 2013’s Ascension To The Throne Ov Self and now this full-length platter.

Revealed In Profane Splendour is a seven-track offering recorded at Parlour Studios under the guidance of Russ Russell, who has worked with many other extreme metal bands such as Napalm Death. It’s no wonder then that this opus sounds so gargantuan, showcasing the band’s talents for mesmerising, aggressive and occasionally symphonic black metal, all delivered with enough guile to please fans with an ear for the varying sub-textures of the black metal genre.

Since their inception the band has gone through some changes, the most notable being the departure of frontman Void (aka Tom Allen), with guitarist Isfeth (aka Mark Antoniades; Eye Of Solitude) taking over lead vocal duties. Isfeth is joined by fellow guitarist Indomitus (aka Steffan Gough), bassist Baalrath (aka Chris Davies; Eye Of Solitude), and recently recruited drummer Khrudd (aka Daniel Neagoe; Clouds, Eye Of Solitude, Colosus).

Sidious is a formidable beast, constructing emphatic layers of grandiose black metal. From the opening chugs of ‘Sacrilegious Majesty’ to the final flaying executed by ‘O Paragon, Bringer Ov Light’, Sidious forges a fiery brand of symphonically-caressed arrogance blessed with bouts of insidious speed and slower, Gothic strains of bombastic atmosphere and bestial mockery. Isfeth’s unholy rasp is one so gargantuan you’d think he’d swallowed the microphone as he vomits out the shards of incredulous hate amidst those stirring, brooding landscapes of heaving black witchery.

Sidious is rarely a predictable beast; while it offers rampant passages of blood-flecked foam, the continued use of haunting synths coupled with unorthodox segments of rage means that the listener is always caught unawares. While that opening track is one of several layers which unravel like the petals of the blackest rose, ‘Inexorable Revelation’ is more direct – bursting with wicked speed and laced by symphonic eeriness, the track plays out like some furious yet changing force of nature fuelled by that ripping percussion.

The title track is just as abrasive in its deathly tone; Isfeth’s vocals almost too guttural to be pigeonholed as mere black metal scathing, and with those precise riffs and blast-beats the track becomes another avenue of mayhem for the band to explore and so continues these flailing bouts of the nefarious fronted by the ever-changing moods of that sickening voice.

With ‘Obscenity Ov Old’ there are some fine subtle injections to add to the cavernous Gothic atmospherics – more so in the vocal chants – while with the aforementioned ‘O Paragon, Bringer Ov Light’ we have a slow progression built upon trudging rhythms which are eventually punctuated by blasts of sneering speed, slowly leading us astray into the nether regions of this pitch black chasm of unholiness.

And so this despicable yet well-crafted black metal composition comes to a close and Sidious has succeeded in roping in another unsuspecting disciple to help its quest for black metal dominance.

Neil Arnold

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