Christ Dismembered – OV Vampiricy
Release Date: 25th February 2025
Label: Independent
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal.
FFO: Nifelheim, Immortal, Dark Funeral, Behexen, Marduk.
Review By: Rick Farley
“A tolling bell, a howling wind and chants of dire imprecation announce the return of Christ Dismembered, Australia’s chief advocates of apostasy and servants of the beast! The fabled followers of darkness have finally unleashed their second full length album of blood hungry black metal – OV Vampiricy!”
Looking for post, progressive or symphonic black metal? Well, keep scrolling because you won’t find it here. This is straight from the good ole days of black metal. Pure, ferocious second wave style, just with much better production. Don’t get me wrong this is still raw as hell and sounds like it could easily conjure up something wicked with one too many listens, but as far as black metal goes, this leans toward modern sound clarity wise, despite it’s evil as hell soundscape threatening to behead you at every slight movement.
Black Metal as a genre has come a long way. In some case, for the worst depending on who you ask of course, but for me the amount of growth this genre has made to spider vein its way to what it is now is astounding. The levels of quality in every subgenre that’s based off black metal’s origins has grown farther than any other genre I can think of. That a pretty remarkable thing, too, except when you need a dose of pure hellfire of the early 1990s that’s ugly enough to sear your flesh away but actually not from the 90s. Everyone has seemed to have forgotten the blasphemous, soul wrecking, malignant bastard child that black metal originally was. I’ve said this before, but, sometimes you need to hear the hits.
Christ Dismembered is exactly that band. The blood drenched, spiralling riffs, the infernal blast beats, the unapologetic furious black metal that we all need in our pathetic little lives is here with murderous purity in 2025.
The sharp intensity of scorching tremolo on Mother of Demons is flesh consuming. Angry, malevolent, and nerve-shredding, she nastily shows no mercy, while track six The Banishment is a much-needed respite in the form of an instrumental from the crucifix stabbing of OV Vampiricy’s grim intent up to this point. Its background is blowing wind and stormy sounds, while ominous clean guitars and melodic leads are calm enough to beguile but still hauntingly sinister enough to fit within the context.
A Ritual Most Foul follows the dark interlude with a well-defined stylistic framework of icy cold guitar passages that feel rhythmic and meaty as opposed to pure speed. Cold and merciless, this is not just hero worship, but rather a band that knows their way around the genre while crafting familiar songs that are still intriguing this many years later.
Child Devouring Servants of Satan is a take no prisoners war against the light, darkly serpentine with fiery tremolo picking and unrelenting blast beats pulverising with intensity. The aggressive track speeds its way through horrifying soundscapes with acidic, throaty screeching, burning ash and evil atmosphere. This is old school black metal but done with their own character.
Christ Dismembered is not going to blow the doors of the genre with anything new, but honestly, they’ll surely set fire to the already established foundation. This is pure black metal fun with modern production that has the sound, aesthetics and evil attitude that drew me to this genre in the first place so many years ago. Hail Satan.
(3.5 / 5)
