Blasphemous – To Lay Siege and Conquer
Release Date: 25th October 2024
Label: Adirondack Black Mass
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackened Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal.
FFO: Tsjuder, Belphegor, Possessed, Goatwhore, Watain, Dissection, Archgoat.
Review By: Rick Farley
Philadelphia’s blackened death metal band Blasphemous return with their highly anticipated fourth full length album, To lay Siege and Conquer, being released via Adirondack Black Mass. Formed in 2003 with only the intention of writing and recording vicious, melodic, blackened death metal.
Despite the bands 21-year history, Blasphemous has had several reasons to call it a day, including a three-year hiatus in 2013, prolonged periods of time in between album cycles and numerous, frequent line-up changes. Still Blasphemous have triumphantly prevailed and are about to unleash their first new material since 2018’s Emerging Through Fire.
Firstly, I feel I should mention the production. If you’re already a fan, To Lay Siege and Conquer is a huge upgrade in sound compared to previous albums. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by AJ Viana at AJ Viana Productions. There’s a much richer, fuller sound while still remaining raw and grisly. The mix is done well enough that it creates an environment that’s conducive to the riff’s organic energy, which forces the tracks through the speakers like blackened fire.
To Lay Siege and Conquer as an album works best as a complete listen. It’s an engaging record from beginning to end. While no song sticks out any more than the others, each one is an extension of the last. Blackened death metal with a taste for several other classic metal genres. It lives up to what it’s trying to be, nothing more, nothing less. This may sound like I’m not enthusiastic about this record, which is simply not the case. There are crunchy, tight riffs, speedy picked tremolo melodies, screechy growls and plenty of hellish atmosphere founded on a gnarly toned soundscape. The issue here is simply that I’ve heard this record many times over in my high numbered, old guy years. To Lay Siege and Conquer is a solid record worth listening too, but it’s still only going to be in my player occasionally, before reaching for what I believe are the better versions of this album.
Still To Lay Siege and Conquer does the job of being nasty and brutal, while also having catchy traditional metal flavouring sprinkled in. One good example of this is Son of the Forsaken. Extremely fast, pounding drums and lightning forged, frenzied riffs bashing at every opportunity. The melody choices are reminiscent of classic metal with twice as much aggression. Small doses, mind you, but the influence is there. Fast, thrashy black metal with melody is typically a winning combo. Spiritual Enslavement is straight up tremolo picked adrenaline fuelled nastiness. The vocals are a cross between screechy rasp and growling, which works incredibly well within the context of this album. Dead and Still has a slower, old school thrash sound that kicks the song off with menace. Metallic, crunchy, fast-paced madness ensues, and we are left feeling satisfied but slightly fatigued by the similarity of the tracks.
To Lay Siege and Conquer, while being a good record that’s produced well, and executed viciously, will undoubtedly make fans of the band happy. Sadly, I doubt this will have much lasting power in my speakers. Give it a spin and see what you think.
(3 / 5)
