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VOID MEDITATION CULT / SPERM OF ANTICHRIST
Sulfurous Prayers Of Blight And Darkness – Split LP

Hells Headbangers (2013)
Rating: 6/10

Ohio’s Void Meditation Cult and Sperm Of Antichrist are both the unholy works of one Desolate Defiler, and this split album Sulfurous Prayers Of Blight And Darkness showcases the wretched talents of said individual. Desolate Defiler has compiled a rather grim set of tracks that will no doubt please anyone who worships Satan!

I know very little about this hooded maniac, but the music he plays is certainly sludge-filled and dirty; almost hypnotic in its doomy nature, the sound comes complete with effective and rather hellish vocal growls and distant echoes.

Void Meditation Cult are slow and extremely dark and stuffy around the edges. The vocals are miserable gargles and gurgles, but thankfully the tracks don’t drag on, and so they prolong the obscure feel of proceedings by being only a few minutes long. Too many bands drone people to death, but Void Meditation Cult have belched out a horrifying demo that exhales nastiness. This nastiness comes mainly in the more fleet of foot numbers, such as the evil-drenched swamp of ‘Consecrated By Sacrifice’ and the muggier ‘All Of The Devil’s Temple’, with its black metal mood and muddy slurs.

Void Meditation Cult offer four tracks on this record, as do Sperm Of Antichrist, but of the two bands it’s the former that conjure the most potent demons. ‘Obedience To Evil’ is a filthy layer of fuzz that would no doubt clog up the speakers, such is its distant echoes and hidden murmurs. ‘Rites Of The Ruminant Dead’ is more of a haunting ritualistic sermon of whispering vocals and gloomy riffs.

And then we’re on to Sperm Of Antichrist’s delightful ‘Serpent Mass Litany’, a despicable black metal obscurity that once again offers shadowy lyrics and deep, guttural guitars. Sperm Of Antichrist are clearly the pacier of the two bands, offering a rawer, more primitive sound. ‘A Pact In Stone And Skin’ completely contradicts this, however; it’s another haunting, hypnotic ritualistic drone that remains nothing more than a wicked whisper on the wind, all amidst slow-motion riffs which are lined with impure essence.

‘The Majestic Doomed Kingdom’ once again reverts back to that vague black metal noise – a wall of sordid sounds comprised of formidable, stormy guitars and those remote vocals. The putrid ‘Born Of The Blighting Angel’ closes the record off, and it’s quite clear that no priest is going to be able to clean up this sorry mess.

Sperm Of Antichrist and Void Meditation Cult are very much related – and one can tell. As siblings, they exist in a vile netherworld occupied by a foul orgy of demons and similar impurities. If you want to join them then so be it, but don’t blame me when you end up on the altar of sacrifice to fulfil their satanic needs.

Neil Arnold

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