KINGDOM - Morbid Priest of Supreme Blasphemy (HELLTHRASHER - CD 2013)
I already had known Kingdom for a while and I
guess I can say that I quite liked the music of this Polish troop of death… at
least their tape EP “Church of Death” really blown my head off (killer cover of
Kat!), as the debut CD “Unholy Graveyard” was more mediocre, but still quite
solid effort. But I wanted really to hear “Morbid Priest of Supreme Blasphemy”,
as “Church of Death” raised the appetite for it strongly. Well, my first
attempt to listen to some sounds from the new Kingdom CD failed… I got some mp3
I think of couple of songs, but somehow I didn’t enjoy them at all as they
seemed to be quite noisy and chaotic, with terribly poor production. Luckily I
didn’t put my final opinion basing it on some lousy mp3’s and waited with it
before I listen to the whole CD, which I finally got last week. And well, what
can I say… If I had any doubts whether Kingdom will be able to cause bloodshed
and slaughter the innocent, then the sounds of their new album, which blew the
speakers off, erased all the hesitation. Damn, this album is fantastic!
First of all I must say that it feels like
Kingdom has matured a lot since “Unholy Graveyard”. And with that I don’t mean
that they evolved into something different – not at all; musically it is still
very obscure, morbid and violent old school death metal… It just feels like
everything on “Morbid Priest of Supreme Blasphemy” has been improved, starting with
the production and finishing off with the idea for the music and the songs,
which on “Morbid Priest of Supreme Blasphemy” are just really, really good. One
of the main advantages of the album is its variety, as – unlike the debut,
which was pretty one dimensional – it has many different kind of influences
thrown within all ten songs and it almost feels like every songs has something
what would distinguish it from the rest. More so, I think that the music has
just been better written, with some memorable parts here and there, but at the
same time it is deliciously bestial and violent as hell, bringing destruction,
slaughter and desecration as well as lots of nuclear energy to erupt in your
face. The whole material is based on the death metal and bands like Acheron,
Morbid Angel, Cianide, Nunslaughter, Throneum, Asphyx, Nihilist, Angel Corpse
and Incantation, but they have been filled quite intensely with the insane
portion of bestiality and blasphemy of black metal of Blasphemy, Beherit, Black
Witchery, Revenge, Sarcofago and other such bands (just listen to the ghoulish
vocals and feel the whole eerie, dark atmosphere!). The final effect – well, it
for sure is something beyond my expectations and for sure it slays.
I must admit that the album is so even that I
have difficulties with pointing out my favourite songs from it… for sure among
my faves there would be such anthems as “Slaves of Ruin” – which is one of
those songs, which are so utterly bestial and extreme that they’ll remind you
all those black metal bands like Revenge, Black Witchery or Bestial Raids, if
they were mixed up with some death metal bands like Acheron or early Morbid
Angel. Then “Beast of the Sea”, which is more like Angel Corpse, but very fast
and intense as hell. “Morbid Priest” is definitely my favourite track from the
album – it is just a killer stuff, quite slower if comparing it to some other
songs, but I love its atmosphere and that ritualistic, eerie feeling, which
resembles (again) Acheron, Morbid Angel and some Blasphemy / Beherit. ”Summoned
from Dead” is a sheer brutality, extreme and fast motherfucker, but with some
excellent guitar work and when I listen to the opening riff of “Nameless King”
I always have Unleashed’s “Execute Them All” main riff in my mind – the resemblance
is quite strong, but luckily further on “Nameless King” walks away from this…
and finally there’s a cool cover of Nihilist’s “Supposed to Rot”, which has
been played quite fast and in one part when it is so speeded up it almost
reminds me about Mayhem’s “Buried by Time and Dust” hehe! Anyway, the whole album
is just excellent and with only 30 minutes on the clock it is a perfect dose of
destructive force… and yeah, check out also that awesome artwork of Bartek
Kurzok. For sure it is one of his best works so far! Very recommended stuff.
Standout tracks: “Morbid Priest”, “Slaves of
Ruin”, “Summoned from Dead”
Final rate: 88/100
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